Flying with Broken Wings
by Lil Doro
Summary: [AU] She's the girl that nobody likes. He's the guy that likes nobody. They are both such different people, yet they are so much the same. When two broken stories entwine to become one, two people embark on a journey they will never forget. [SquallRinoa]
1. Broken Hope

**A/N: **Hello everyone, I'm back from my break from writing and have decided to write another fanfic. Most of you may remember me from the previous fic I wrote, _Lost Memories of my Love, _but if not, then that's fine. Since Lost Memories, I think I've learned a lot from the experience and from all of your helpful reviews, so I hope _Flying with Broken Wings _is just as successful, or even more so. This fic is quite different to my other one. I hope the plot idea isn't too clichéd, but all the same, I hope you enjoy it :)

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing. All characters of Final Fantasy VIII belong to Squaresoft.  
DISCLAIMER UPDATE: Okay, so I've finally been directed to Val's story that I've been told is similar to this story. I suppose that my story has a similar basis, though I'm telling you now that it is very, _very_ different, especially later chapters. So, credit to Val because technically, my story is aspired from her in a way. Thank you, and please don't sue :)

**Flying With Broken Wings **

**Chapter 1 – Broken Hope**

"You will do as you're told, young lady!"

Fury Caraway stood angrily in the doorway, his eyes flickering viciously with rage. For the umpteenth time, his only daughter had managed to somehow make him cross. He was beginning to get sick of the teenager's nature – he was beginning to realise that if he did not do anything to tame his already out-of-control daughter, then she would only do more to make him even angrier.

"Make me!" shouted Rinoa just as loudly as her father.

"All I'm asking is that you go out to town and buy some items," groaned Caraway, "It's _not _hard."

"If it isn't so hard, then why don't _you _go?" snapped Rinoa.

"I have a lot to organise," said Caraway calmly, "You_ know _that an important man is coming over in a fortnight. If things don't go well, then you know that we will both end up on the streets."

The seventeen-year-old girl folded her arms and groaned, not wanting to admit defeat. She knew very well that this 'meeting' of her father's was rather important. He lost his job years ago due to some severe trauma when his wife, Julia Heartilly, died in a car accident. Julia's death greatly affected Rinoa just as much as it affected Caraway, if not more so. For years, Caraway remained jobless while Rinoa worked hard to earn money for the pair of them with her job at a local café. Unfortunately, her earnings alone were not enough, and even the money Julia earned as a singer that was left to them was running out.

During these years, Rinoa grew irritable with her father and developed a solid hatred for him. Her grudge that she held against him started so long ago that she forgot _why _she hated him. She wanted very much to just move out, but she had nowhere to go and hadn't enough money. Of course, she hated to admit it, but she still cared slightly enough for her father to live with him.

Rinoa eventually lost her mind with the great workload she had on top of school, so she had no time for friends or boyfriends, or virtually anything she enjoyed doing. That was probably the reason why she hated her father so much – he deprived her of her childhood and happiness. But nevertheless, she became sick of waiting hand and foot on her father that she soon forced him to get a job.

And that was what this upcoming meeting was all about. Some important person had recently moved into the city. Rinoa wasn't sure whom this person was, or what kind of job her father was getting, but she honestly didn't care. She just wanted to be a normal teenager again.

"Fine," murmured Rinoa. She relentlessly grabbed the money in Caraway's hand and quickly made her way out of their small house. On the way, she grabbed a coat from the back of her chair and left the house without another word.

The busy streets of Timber were flurried with people caught up in their own lives to notice Rinoa. She was once well known because she was a great singer's daughter, but soon after Julia's death, nobody really cared anymore. Rinoa was just another speck in the world, and she was somewhat grateful that nobody saw her anymore.

But the real reason why Rinoa hadn't any friends was because she had a very rare health condition. It was called 'Sorceress Plague', and it caused Rinoa to have uncontrollable fits at just about any time. During these fits, she would go into a trance-like state that made her body extremely weak so that just about anything could kill her. The condition made it difficult for her to breathe, as her lungs and heart would weaken to an extreme. In addition to this, she was unable to think straight and her senses were basically numbed.

She had this condition ever since she was five years old, but she did not understand that her fits were not normal. Her parents paid specialists to try and find a cure with their fountain of wealth, but still they couldn't find one. The only aid she had was a special retainer she was to hold at all times, and whenever she had a convulsion, she had to intake its content so her body would return to normal. The only problem was that if she were ever too weak, then it would be difficult for her to aid herself. That was why she always needed someone nearby just in case she failed to retain herself.

But that was just the problem. Nobody wanted to be around her. All the kids at school were either afraid of her or found her condition funny, so they often picked on her. Yet none of her naive classmates understood her condition; they automatically thought that the Plague was contagious. And because it was a rare disease, they all thought of Rinoa as some kind of freak. Nobody knew about the Sorceress Plague until _after _her mother died, because with her mother alive, her family had the money to pay to keep her condition stable. Now that Julia was dead, they could only afford enough to pay for the retainers and that was the end of it.

Rinoa didn't care what everyone said, of course. She never let her classmates get to her. She was stubborn by nature, so it was expected that she bit back when somebody harassed her. Most of the time sheappeared to be happy and easy-going, but she had to mask the pain she felt on the inside – she had weaknesses and wasn't afraid to show them, but her emotional pain was much different.

But she had one friend and one friend only, and that was enough for her. As long as her best friend Min was on her side, then Rinoa could easily withstand the slings and arrows everyone had to shoot at her. The only problem was that Min had moved away before the summer … so now, Rinoa was all alone.

_Why did you have to die, mom_? Rinoa thought miserably. _When you left … everything was starting to go wrong. It seems that it's just getting worse every day. _She sighed out loud. _But I'll stand up tall, I guess. I'll be strong to the very end. Just like you._

The summer day was warm in Timber, but not as warm as it should have been. Rinoa was grateful that it was finally summer vacation – it meant that she had one less thing to worry about. She was also glad that she was allowed to have a little bit of a break from work … her manager knew about the workload Rinoa had to carry and let her have a two week vacation. She was grateful that she even managed to find a job with her health condition.

Rinoa pushed open the door of the small grocery store and was greeted with the sound of the bell aloft it. She was hoping the store was air conditioned, but apparently it wasn't. Taking her time, the girl browsed around the shelves and carefully picked out the items on Caraway's list. The store was empty, and Rinoa felt no pressure to make haste.

"Oh, hello there, Rinoa," said Watts, as Rinoa approached the counter with her basket of groceries in hand.

Rinoa smiled weakly at him in return. Watts was the son of the man who owned the store. She called him a friend, but in her heart she knew that he was only her friend out of pity. She supposed she should have been thankful for a friend, but the fact that Watts was only nice to her because he felt sorry for her wounded her a little on the inside.

She knew … the way he talked to her, the way he flinched whenever she so much as shook his hand, the way he looked at her sometimes … it was just plain obvious. And it seemed that the only times he so much as looked in her direction was when she came by the store and he happened to be working there. He would just ask like he didn't know Rinoa in school, or anywhere else, for that matter.

"So how're you today?" asked Watts casually.

"Fine," answered Rinoa, handing him a crisp fifty-gil note.

"That's good," said Watts, adding things up on his cash register. He put Rinoa's money in the register and returned her change. "Have a good day."

Rinoa stared at the change in her hands, re-counting the money in front of her. "Uh … Watts, you gave me too much change. I'm only supposed to get six gil change, not fifteen."

"Oh, don't worry about it," shrugged Watts, "It's the least I can do."

Rinoa frowned. "No, I don't want it."

Watts looked slightly taken aback. "Please, take it. I … I know how it must feel. Keep it for yourself, your dad doesn't have to know about it."

Rinoa sighed with a forced smile, and clasped the money in her hands. She knew that the two of them would argue pointlessly if she didn't agree. Besides, he was just trying to be nice to her, wasn't he? She should have been grateful that someone even _acted _like they cared. "Thanks," she said finally.

"Don't worry about it," said Watts. "Have a good day."

Rinoa nodded, keeping the smile on her face pasted on until she left the store. As she stepped out, she let out another disdainful sigh, shoving the leftover money into her purse. _Pity … that's all he's acting out of_, she thought coldly, _I don't want his pity. I don't want anyone's pity. Why can't people just like me for _me_? I hate this stupid plague … it's taking everything away from me…_

She continued down the street with bitter thoughts swirling around in her mind. As she was only a couple of blocks back to her house, Rinoa glanced at her wristwatch and found that it was only four o'clock. Dinner wasn't until another two hours, and she didn't even care if she was late or not.

_Maybe a bit of a walk would do me some good_, thought Rinoa. She took a detour, still clutching her purse and the bag of groceries tight in hand, and set a course for her favourite place in the world – Obel Lake. It had been a good eight years since she last visited that lake. She just never had the time or the heart to go back to that place since her mother died.

Ten minutes passed while Rinoa made her way to the lake, but it seemed like a lot less than that. The comforting feeling that nature gave her overwhelmed her senses as she approached Obel. She smiled, walking up to the lake, the blue water shimmering in the sunlight. She sat down on the soft green grass by the edge and stared into the serene water.

_Me, and mom … and dad's place, _thought Rinoa, _I remember it like it was yesterday. We'd all go down here and have picnics and have fun … I would run around collecting flowers and mom and dad would sit around and just talk. I miss those old days. Now it's like we've all forgotten those days…_

Rinoa sighed, looking deeply into the lake, staring at her reflection in reverence. She was only seventeen, but she felt much older. Her pale complexion and thin figure was normal because of her health, but she liked to think that she inherited it from her mother. Her placid chocolate-brown eyes glimmered behind the few strands of dark hair wisping around her heart-shaped face with the wind. She was wearing what she usually wore – a blue, sleeveless dress, which from the back reached her ankles. She wore matching blue arm warmers and a black ribbon was tied around her left arm to symbolise the mourning of her mother's death.

Minutes passed, and Rinoa simply sat there in revered silence. The summer breeze teased her skin and whipped some strands of her hair around her face, leaving some clinging to her moist lips. She sighed as she neatly put her hair back in its place. She looked up into the sky, which was turning a harsh orange.

_Better go back home_, thought Rinoa.

She gathered her belongings and stood up, straightening her back. She walked away from the lake, not wanting to leave at all, but swore to herself she would come back soon. She felt safe and happy sitting at the lake. Maybe she had no friends, but she knew that the lake would always be there for her…

Rinoa had walked a good ten metres, her mind drifting away from her body. Suddenly, a hand grabbed her from behind and another tightened around her throat fiercely, grasping at her neck tightly. Rinoa's heart thudded uncontrollably in her chest; fear jolting down her body as her mind quickly came back to her. She felt the bag of groceries slip out of her hand and drop onto the ground. She heard the sound of metal flipping, and looked slightly to her right without turning her head to see a silver knife pointing right at her, only inches away from her neck, the blade gleaming dangerously in the sunlight.

"Give me all your money," murmured a low, masculine voice behind her.

Rinoa slightly trembled and gulped, finding her throat dry. "N-No," a voice very much unlike her own said.

With the silence she was met with, Rinoa only assumed that her offender was dumbfounded with her response. Horrified with her own actions and even with those that were coming, she quickly took the opportunity and jabbed whoever it was behind her with her left elbow with as much force as she had inside of her. Her elbow was aching with the blow she exerted, but she tried to take no notice of it.

The grip around her neck slightly loosened, and Rinoa attempted to break free from the attacker's grasp. She felt the chain at her neck snap and slip from its home, but she acted as if it didn't happen. She swivelled around just in time before her attacker could strike with his knife. As she spun around, she was able to take a glimpse of her attacker.

He looked no older than Rinoa, but undoubtedly, he was much taller than her. His chestnut-brown hair was scruffy, some strands falling into his face and slightly hiding his enticing stormy blue eyes. A heavy scar extended from his forehead in a diagonal direction down to the bridge of his nose. He was wearing a black leather jacket with a white, feathery collar over white a shirt, black leather pants with more than one red belt and black leather boots. Around his neck was a heavy-looking chain with a great lion as its pendent, and for a brief moment, Rinoa thought she recognised it. He was also wearing a rather crestfallen expression on his face, but even that expression couldn't disguise his ruggedly handsome features.

For a split second, Rinoa and her attacker's eyes locked together, though it seemed much longer than that. A sweeping feeling crept down Rinoa's spine, as she looked deep into those deep blue eyes. They were like a never-ending ocean … she felt like she could drown in them at any second…

Rinoa quickly snapped back to reality when it looked like her attacker was about to advance on her again. Before he could do anything, a panicky feeling rose inside of her, and she did what any normal girl would do – she kicked him right in his sacred area.

Her attacker staggered for a moment, trying very hard to hide any pain that might have shown on his face, and cursed under his breath. Rinoa ceased this opportunity to make a getaway, and quickly picked up the bag of groceries. She broke into a run, hoping that her attacker would not come after her. Rinoa ran as fast as her legs could take her, not looking back at all. But when she was halfway toward Timber, the fear in her was drained completely out of her system. She stopped and contemplated on her actions.

_What am I _doing? she asked herself, _I just _attacked _somebody._

_It was self-defence, you idiot, _said another voice in her head. _That guy could've done anything to you._

_I should've just given him my money, _thought Rinoa; _I was all worked up about how I didn't want Watts' pity in the first place. _

Letting the latter of her thoughts get the best of her, something in Rinoa's mind made her turn around and walk back to find her attacker.

_What are you doing! _a voice inside her mind yelled at her, _that guy would kill you when he sees you!_

Rinoa ignored her inner voice, but still, she couldn't help but wonder _why_ she was going back anyway. She thought for a moment about her attacker … he _was _rather good-looking. But it was more than just that, the most haunting part was his deep blue eyes. For that split second their eyes locked, she just knew that his eyes were definitely the window to his soul … it was like she could see right past them. She could tell that this young man had seen many things … many horrible things…

Rinoa could finally see someone again. He was on his knees with his eyes closed, as if deep in thought. Even _with _his eyes closed, Rinoa couldn't help but get sucked in by his striking appearance…

_Stop checking your attacker out, _snapped a voice in Rinoa's mind.

She quickly shook the thoughts out of her head. She stood for a moment, wondering whether she should approach him or not. She watched as he stood up and opened his eyes, putting his knife away. Again, her legs started walking on their own up to him. She tried to stay at least three feet away from him, although she couldn't tear her eyes away from his deep blue eyes…

"Um … here," she said softly, holding out the change Watts had given her.

The guy in front of her stared right back at her, quite amazed that Rinoa had returned. His innocently bemused expression quickly fogged up when a look of coldness replaced it.

"I'm sorry I hurt you," said Rinoa quietly. "Please take it. I don't want it."

Before he could say anything, Rinoa quickly thrust the money into his right hand and turned away so he could not see her face. She could feel the blood rushing to her cheeks and tried to flush it out as she walked in the other direction in a hurried pace.

He watched her walk away, sheer amazement in his expression. The coins in his hand were warm from the girl's tight grasp around them. When she was out of sight, he looked down into his hand at the loose change.

_What the hell was that?_

He was only trying to get a bit of money. Indeed, he did get it, but he didn't expect to get it this way. He had run away from home for the umpteenth time, and didn't plan to go back for a while. He usually had a lot of money whenever he left home, but this time he had stayed away for much longer than usual. Naturally, he ran out of money. But he wasn't ready to go home yet, not ready to face his father again, so he needed money badly.

Father … would he even call that man 'father'? True, he might have given his son his name … the name Squall … but Squall refused to take his father's surname, Loire.

Squall and his father only recently moved into town, and like hell he hated it. He never even wanted to come, but Laguna, president of the Estharian army, found it necessary that his son come along with him wherever he went. Laguna was much a man of his work and it – it was required that he moved around a lot, hence taking his son with him. But Squall hated moving around all the time. He just wanted to move back to Winhill, where his older sister Ellone lived.

Ellone wasn't really his sister, but the two of them were close enough to be called brother and sister. Squall and Ellone grew up together, until his mother Raine died. Laguna was never home, he was always on business trips, to spend time with Squall and Raine. He wasn't even there when Raine was about to give birth to her second child … and it was then that she died. Neither the child, nor mother lived, in fact.

Squall was naturally in a devastated condition. Raine died when he was eight years old, and since then, Laguna had to take Squall with him wherever he went. But Squall hated his father with a fiery passion … he hardly even knew his father, nor did his father know him. Laguna was not there by Raine's side in her darkest hour. Laguna was not there when Squall needed a father. Laguna took Squall away from his only friend, his _sister. _And as he grew up, he held all these things against his father. If it weren't for the fact that Squall always had haunting dreams of Raine saying things like 'Please don't hate your father' and 'I want you to love your father', then Squall would have ditched Laguna by now and ran his own life.

So of course, it was natural that Squall ran away from home all the time, to avoid seeing his father. It was usually after they had arguments that he would just get up and leave the house and not return until he cooled down. Laguna soon got used to this and just relinquished trying to stop Squall from leaving the house. But this time … Squall found it hard to cool down. This new town reminded him so much of Winhill … nearly everywhere he went, something about his home would pop up.

And look where his leaving home got him now. He thought that the girl at the lake looked like an easy target, but he was easily proved wrong. She was the first person since he got here to have hurt him physically.

_No, she didn't hurt me, no way_, he thought, pride racing to his mind.

But why did she come back to him? Was she dumb or was she kind? He didn't expect it at all. It actually seemed like she _cared _about him. Nobody cared about him anymore… nobody would ever bother to look twice at him. So what was it about this girl that made Squall Leonhart think so much?

He didn't want to admit it, but when he saw her face, her peaceful brown eyes and that innocent expression, he thought that there was something about her. He couldn't quite put his finger on it. It was like she had some kind of aura around her, because she was actually quite pretty.

_Oh Hyne, think with your _head, _Leonhart, _snapped a voice inside his head at this thought. He usually wasn't one to even think about girls … so _why _was he thinking about some stranger whom he was trying to mug in the first place?

_So some stranger cared, big deal, _thought Squall. _What does it matter to me anyway? I have the money, don't I? It's not my problem that she's dumb enough to actually turn around and give it to me…_

She was either a very nice person, or a very dumb person. He couldn't decide which one. Something inside of him told himself to go after the mysterious girl, and for a split second, he was very tempted to follow her. But what would he say? He wasn't good with words at all. In fact, he despised people all together. Why should he go after somebody he didn't even care about? What was he going to do? _Make friends with her?_

Squall laughed bitterly to himself. What was the point of making friends? In the end, you're always alone – that was his motto. Friends … there were no such things as friends. Not to Squall, anyway. His 'friends' always wanted something from him. _Everyone _always wanted something from him. It was hard to trust anybody … if he got his hopes up too high, the fall when they were crushed would always be painful. That was why he had no hope, no friends. Everyone wanted something for nothing.

_That girl didn't want anything from you, _a voice inside Squall's head said, _She was being nice because she wanted to be nice, not because she wanted something. Just like Sis…_

_Whatever. _Squall quickly brushed off the thought. He didn't want any expectations of anyone. The encounter with the mysterious girl was just a page of his life; it was time to move on. He didn't need another person to worry about. There was already enough of that at home…

_Home … is there even such a place? _

He sighed and looked at the money in his hand again. It was enough to buy him dinner. He quickly stuffed the coins in his back pocket. But it was then that he remembered holding a silver chain in his other hand. It was the chain that he managed to rip off of the girl when she tried to escape. Perhaps she didn't notice that it was gone when she decided to come back.

Squall smirked. _Oh well, more for me, I guess._

He lifted the chain and examined it to see how much it would have been worth. He was sure that the chain alone was sterling silver. He found that there were two rings hanging on the chain. One was a solid gold ring with diamonds encrusted in it. On closer inspection, the words '_Fury and Julia' _were carefully engraved into the gold.

_Julia … I bet that's her name_, mused Squall. _And Fury … I bet that's her boyfriend. This ring must be some kind of stupid trend people these days do for their stupid teen relationships._

Squall looked at the other ring. For one fleeting moment, Squall's heart almost stopped. It was a silver ring in the form of a lion. But it wasn't just any old lion … it was _Griever. _He recognised it right away … because he had the exact same ring, and a pendent of Griever too. He looked at the Griever ring on his own finger and compared the two, only to find that they were exactly the same.

_How did she get this? _That was the question running through Squall's mind. Only he and Ellone knew what Griever was. There was no way anybody else could get a ring like this, because Griever was _his_. It didn't make sense … unless this girl was more than she appeared to be…

_Probably a coincidence, _thought Squall, as he put it into the pocket in his jacket. _I should just forget her._

But try as he might, Squall couldn't bring himself to forget that girl … the girl who possessed something of great importance to him, but most of all … the girl who bothered to look twice at him, to _care _about him.

**A/N: **So how was that for a first chapter? This is my first shot at an AU fic, so I hope it wasn't too bad of an attempt. I hope me drabbling on about this Sorceress Plague thing isn't too boring, but if you got bored of it and skipped those paragraphs, I'm basically appropriating Rinoa's being a sorceress into a disease so it's more 'contemporary'. I'm not so good with first chapters hehe...Reviews would be much appreciated :-) Oh and I think I will post the second chapter right now … I have a strange habit of posting the first and second chapters of new fics at the same time :-P


	2. Broken Barriers

**Flying with Broken Wings**

**Chapter 2 – Broken Barriers**

As soon as the Caraway house was in sight, Rinoa strangely walked into it with alarming speed. For one, she was supposed to be home a half hour ago, and for the other, her heart just couldn't stop pounding so quickly after her run-in with that boy with the mysterious stormy eyes…

_Stop thinking about him, _thought Rinoa desperately, _he tried to kill you. You _have _to stop thinking about him._

"Rinoa."

Rinoa shrieked with surprise and jumped, her heart speeding rapidly. She let out a relieved sigh when she found that it was only her father.

"Rinoa … are you all right?" asked Caraway, genuinely concerned.

The teenager nodded quickly. "I'm fine … here's the stuff…" She put the shopping bag on the counter. Without another word, she bolted for her bedroom in search of refuge. Her heart was still beating wildly.

Rinoa closed the door behind her and jumped onto her bed, lying on her back and staring at the uninteresting cracks in the ceiling. She took a deep breath in attempt to calm down her racing heart.

_This is so … weird_, she thought pathetically, _His eyes … I couldn't stop looking into them. Why did I turn around in the first place? Stupid, stupid me … that guy could've done anything to me. He had a knife pointed at my throat for Hyne's sake. Oh, but his eyes … I can tell he's seen a lot of things through those eyes. They were so full of hurt, full of … everything. _

"Rinoa Heartilly, get a grip," she mumbled to herself angrily.

* * *

The next morning, Rinoa slept in until eleven o'clock. Getting up groggily, she cleaned herself up in the bathroom, changed into her usual outfit and headed into the kitchen for breakfast … or brunch. To her surprise, Caraway was not present. This was rather unusual, seeing as how he didn't have a job and was usually found in the house lazing about. 

Rinoa shrugged it off. She didn't care, really. It wasn't her business when it came to what her father did. Instead of worrying about it, she made herself a sandwich and settled herself at the kitchen table, eating away in silence. Once or twice her hand reached up to her neck to fiddle with the rings that once hung off her chain, only to find that they weren't there anymore.

She sighed heavily, hating herself for losing those rings. It was a habit of hers to clutch at the rings on her necklace, but now that they were gone, she couldn't help but feel incomplete -naked, in a way. Those rings held sentimental value to her … one was her mother's wedding ring that she managed to keep before Julia died. The other was a ring that Caraway gave to her when she was very young. She didn't know what it was, but Caraway told her that it meant 'strength and pride'.

_Funny … I can go back to some hooligan on the street and apologise for hurting him and end up giving him money, _thought Rinoa, _but I can't ask for my necklace back!_

But her necklace wasn't on her mind when she went back to her attacker. In fact, she only noticed that it was gone when she reached her house. She regretted it with her life, and knew that if her father ever found out, then he would have murdered her.

Rinoa looked at the clock on the wall. It was eleven thirty, and she didn't have work or school that day. Her father wasn't at home to tell her what to do, either. She decided to visit the lake again. It brought comfort to her, knowing that the lake would always be there for her … her pleasant memories of the old days were held there, and she was very happy to relive them again.

_And maybe _he_ might be there again, _thought Rinoa.

She quickly tried to drown out that thought, because that was _not _the real reason as to why she wanted to go down to Obel Lake. But even with that said, she _still _couldn't help but hope that her attacker from yesterday might've been there again…

Rinoa left the house after cleaning up. As she stepped outside, she was grateful that the summer was not at its extreme. The sky was a clear blue with not a single cloud in sight. The sun warmed up her skin and she wondered if she would be able to get a tan to counter her abnormally pale skin. She wandered down the street, taking in the fact that there weren't as many people out on the road as there usually were. She headed out the town gates and made her way to Obel Lake, with a bit of a skip in between her steps.

When the undeniable speck of blue water was within sight, she grinned and picked up the pace. As she got closer to the lake, she halted suddenly, her heart skipping beats. There, on the quay of the lake, stood a lone figure dressed in black. His back was toward Rinoa, looking out into the calm water, but she knew who it was straight away. It was the same guy from the previous day.

_What should I do_?

Rinoa contemplated on whether or not she should just go home, or stay at the lake. She didn't know if he still had the intention to rob or hurt her again, but she couldn't help but remember those eyes. She had a feeling that there was more to him … perhaps he wasn't really that bad of a guy. He must have needed that money for something important … he couldn't possibly just go around mugging girls for fun? He didn't look the type at all...

She hesitated for a moment. _Oh what the heck … I may as well ask for my necklace back while I'm at it. And if he doesn't co-operate, I guess I can just give him another kick in the balls…_

* * *

Squall stood alone on the wooden quay, watching birds fly by and little fish swim. He still hadn't gone back home, and was not willing to, either. He didn't sleep at all the previous night. He managed to buy dinner with the mysterious girl's money, and headed back to the lake. He spent the night sitting against a tree in the moonlight, lost in thought.

He closed his eyes for a moment, not letting himself succumb to the fatigue inside his body. He hadn't had a good night's sleep in days. He felt so useless, so alone … there was nothing for him to do, nobody for him to talk to. The lake was like a second home to him … it brought him comfort, memories of his old days in Winhill with Ellone and Raine…

When he opened his eyes again, he was somewhat startled to see someone standing right next to him, also staring off into the distance of the lake. He blinked twice and stared at the girl next to him, only to realise that this was the same girl whom he had tried to mug the previous day. He felt his stomach do a back flip and wondered what to do. He tried to search his mind, but strangely, it was like his brain was malfunctioning in the girl's presence.

She turned to look at him, her innocent brown eyes looking into his. For a fleeting moment, it felt like she was staring right into his soul; because his stomach did another back flip. Her full lips curved into a pleasant smile, and Squall's stomach did yet _another _back flip.

"Nice lake, huh?" she said, keeping her smile on. "It's a pretty nice day, too."

Squall quickly broke his stare and turned back to the water, not looking at her. He was about to tell her to leave him alone, but he couldn't find the words or his voice to do it. He tried to keep a straight face on.

"You know who I am, don't you?" he asked quietly.

"Well, actually, I don't," said the girl, "But I do know that you're standing in my special spot."

Squall said nothing. _Why is she acting like this? Doesn't she know that I had a knife to her throat yesterday? She really must be stupid…_

"I'm sorry if I hurt you yesterday," she said when she was met with silence.

"You didn't hurt me," murmured Squall, shuddering at the memory. He said nothing for a while and wondered if she was going to ask for her money or necklace back. But it turned out that she just kept staring at him with the same sweet smile.

"Why are you here?" asked Squall, when she didn't go away.

The girl sighed dreamily and looked to the lake. "This place … Obel Lake … it's like my second home. A lot of my memories lie here…"

_Same here, _thought Squall.

For a while, the both of them were lost in silent thought, staring at the peaceful water. Squall suddenly felt the silence awkward. It was what he wanted, but now that he got it, he had the urge for the girl next to him to speak.

"So, what's your name?" she asked at last, turning to look up at him again.

The question took Squall by surprise. He hesitated to tell her for a second. "Squall," he murmured. He was about to ask for the girl's name, but decided against it. It was probably best if he made it look like he wasn't interested.

"Squall," she repeated, "So that would explain your stormy eyes…"

"What?" said Squall suddenly, taken aback by her comment. He looked at her with a slight expression of bemusement.

She said nothing, but just smiled serenely at him and sat down on the edge of the quay, her legs dangling off the side. She patted the spot next to her enthusiastically, beckoning Squall to sit down with her. Squall merely stared down at her with a disapproving look, but his legs gave way and sat himself down. He immediately felt much better, much less tired, as if he forgot how it felt to sit down.

"You look very depressed, Squall," she said.

"Whatever…"

"You do. You shouldn't keep your feelings bottled up, you'll explode one day."

_What does it matter to you? _Squall didn't reply, but he didn't understand why she was talking to him as if they were best friends. They only just met and they knew absolutely nothing about each other. What's more, he still did not understand why she was acting as if nothing happened the previous day.

"Well?"

"Well what?" snapped Squall.

"Well, aren't you gonna tell me what's on your mind?" she asked, her expression still calm as ever.

"Nothing's on my mind," he mumbled, "Why do you care? You have your own problems, don't you? Why do you care about my problems when you don't even know who I am?"

"I do know who you are," she said simply, "You just told me you were Squall. Unless … that's not who you really are?"

Squall stared at her in disbelief. He had never met anybody like her. Usually when he told people to back off, they did so. But she had some strange comebacks that Squall did not know how to answer back to. So instead of answering back, he said nothing.

"So, what's up, Squall?"

"Nothing!" said Squall, almost shouting. He was getting rather annoyed with the way she insisted on knowing what was wrong with him, because there was nothing wrong with him at all. He hated it when people kept pestering him to know what he was thinking about.

She merely giggled. "All right, all right, no need to bite my head off." She sighed dreamily. "I know … you wouldn't want to tell someone you barely know all your troubles, right?"

"I wouldn't tell anybody, whether I knew them or not," murmured Squall. _Oh crap, did I just say that out loud?_

"Oh, really?" asked the girl with an amused look on her face. "And why is that, Squall?"

He didn't know what it was … but every time she said his name, Squall felt rather tingly on the inside. He hated that feeling.

"Everyone has their own problems," mumbled Squall, not looking at her, "what favours would it do me if I made someone else's burden heavier with _my _problems?"

"Well, you see, Squall," she said, making him shudder again at the sound of his own name, "that's what _friends_ are for. They're there for you when you … feel down. What good is a friend if you can't tell them how you feel? And what good is a friend if you don't listen to them?"

Squall laughed hollowly. "_Friends. _My so-called 'friends' just want something from me. They don't care how I feel, and I don't care how they feel…"

"At least you have some," she said quietly.

Squall looked at her, wondering what she meant by that. _No way … _she _doesn't have any friends? I thought she'd have a whole crowd following her around withthat sickeningly joyfulattitude. I wonder what's wrong with her._

When Squall's ocean eyes met her earthen ones, the girl quickly turned away and looked back to the water, the smile from her face slowly disappearing. Squall wondered if she was reflecting on her own life, her own problems and fears. He felt strange thinking that she had her own troubles, but she actually took the time to ask about his.

_Maybe she's different from the others…_

Squall turned back to the water. There was a long minute of inept silence. Both of them said nothing, and somehow it felt strange to Squall that the talkative girl he had just met fell silent all of a sudden. Usually, he liked the peace and quiet … but now it felt awkward. Every second, he secretly hoped that the girl next to him would start talking cheerfully again, but still she said nothing.

Squall reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out the chain he ripped off her the previous day. He didn't look at it and just protruded his hand to his left, waiting for the girl to notice it.

She looked at Squall's gloved hand in bemusement, then at him. He wasn't looking at her – he was still staring out into the lake with his emotionless expression.

"It's yours, isn't it?" asked Squall, when she didn't take the necklace.

"Well … yeah," she said, nodding, "I didn't think that … you'd give it back to me."

Squall smirked. "What do you think I am? I'm not a crook, if that's what you're gonna say."

She opened her mouth to say something, but decided against it. She took the necklace from Squall's hand, staring at the rings absentmindedly. They were unscathed, as she had left them. "Thanks…"

Squall shoved his hands back into his pockets and said nothing.

"Um … can you help me put it back on?"

Squall looked back at her and was about to say 'no', but he hesitated when he saw her face smile again. "Uh … sure…"

She pulled her hair to the side and turned to the side so that her back was toward Squall. He took one end of the chain and tried to hook it into the catch. Strangely, he was fumbling clumsily and kept missing, as if his usually co-ordinated hands were refusing to obey him.

"Done yet?"

Squall felt himself flush. "Just … hang on…" He finally managed to put the chain together again and felt at ease when he did. As the girl turned back to the water, Squall did so as well. The question of where she got Griever from was dying to get out – he thought this as a good opportunity to ask.

"Those rings … where did you get them from?" asked Squall.

"Oh, these? Well, this gold one here … it was my mom's wedding ring."

_So it's not hers then, _thought Squall, _I guess this means she doesn't have a boyfriend named Fury either. Wait … why should I care if she has a boyfriend or not?_

"She gave it to me before she … um, before she passed away…"

Squall looked at her. He noticed that her smile looked rather forced, because her eyes were filled with sadness. It looked unnatural somehow, and Squall felt himself ache at the look on her face. He wondered what he should have said. After all, he didn't usually talk to people like this … he didn't know how to handle it. He felt like giving his infamous cold-hearted 'get over it' speech, but the words never left his mouth. But he didn't pity her at all, because he didn't have a mother either. All he could offer was understanding … it would be hard, because he just never took the time to understand people.

"Your mom passed away?" he asked.

For a split second, Squall could have sworn that the girl beside him looked startled. When he looked twice, the forced smile on her face only looked more unnatural.

"Yeah," she murmured, "She died when I was eight … in a car accident. She died instantly … but she left me her wedding ring. I carry it around everywhere I go so I don't forget about her…"

_I'm glad I gave it back to her then, _thought Squall.

There was silence between them, until she spoke up, "So … aren't you going to say 'I'm sorry', or something?"

Squall smirked. "Was I supposed to?"

The girl faced him and smiled genuinely, which somewhat surprised Squall. He was expecting that she was going to go nuts and beg for pity and attention like most people did … but she didn't appear to.

"Most people do," she said, "But I'm glad you didn't. I'm so sick of everyone saying 'I'm sorry' as if it'll make me feel better … but it's just out of pity. I don't need pity, I don't need sympathy … I need a lot more than that…"

Squall nodded in understanding. "I know how it feels…"

"Oh?"

"I hate sympathy too," murmured Squall, trying not to take notice of the raven-haired girl smiling at him. "But … I can't say I feel sorry for you. My mom died when I was eight years old as well. If I feel sorry for you, then it's just like saying I'm feeling sorry for myself. And that's just really … pathetic."

"Your mom died too?" she asked softly.

Squall nodded. "She died during childbirth … the kid didn't survive either." _Why am I telling her this again? _

"Ah … well, I'm sorry then," said the girl jokingly.

For the first time in a long time, Squall laughed. It was a rather quick one, though. He just couldn't help himself…

The girl grinned when she heard him laugh. The grin disappeared, however, and a serious tone was in her voice again. "But … at least you have your dad, right?"

Squall laughed emptily. "Yeah, right, I have my _dad. _Could I even call him that? The man doesn't even act like he cares … sure, he says he does all the time, but he was never there for me. He's a moron … it's his fault I'm…" He slowly trailed off, now knowing how to finish his sentence. He couldn't believe that he let himself speak so much about his past and the way he felt. But the words just glided across his tongue ... it just felt so easy to talk to this girl.

"Alone…?" said the girl quietly.

Squall narrowed his eyes at the word, but slowly nodded anyway. "But … I get used to it … I just don't bother expecting anything anymore…"

"You're not alone," said the girl quietly, "My father's a moron too. He acts like mom's death only affects _him_, as if I'm perfectly fine with it…"

It was quite the opposite with Squall. Laguna never spoke about Raine's death – he acted like it never happened. In fact, he acted as if Raine didn't exist at all, as if she meant nothing to him. He didn't know whose situation was worse, his own or the girl sitting next to him. But somehow, he came to appreciate the girl's company more. There was this mutual understanding between them, something that he did not share with anybody else in the world.

"Well, I guess we're on the same boat," murmured Squall, "dead mothers and moronic fathers…"

The thought was indeed upsetting, but somehow it made the girl next to him laugh. Squall didn't expect it at all. He was expecting that she get angry over his comment, but it was quite the opposite. This surprised Squall too … he couldn't remember the last time he made somebody laugh.

"That's a great way of putting it, Squall," she said brightly.

Squall smiled a small smile, but quickly tried to makeit vanish. He changed the subject, seeing as how they went a little off track from what he originally intended. "What about the other ring?"

"Oh, right," she said. "Well … I don't know what it is, or what it means. My dad gave it to me a really long time ago. When I was about six, I think." She suddenly began to fiddle with the rings on the chain. "He never told me where he got it from. But … I think he said that it meant strength, or something."

"It does," mumbled Squall.

"It does?"

Squall nodded. "It's a lion."

"And does this lion have a name?"

"Yeah … its name is Griever," answered Squall, "But it's not just any lion … it's a guardian force. The strongest guardian force ever."

"Ohh, I see," she said. "And you know this … how?"

"I have the same ring…" Squall showed her his copy of the ring on his finger. "That's why I wondered … where you got yours from…"

"Oh," she said quietly. "And you have it as your pendent too. I thought I recognised it from somewhere."

Squall nodded. "It represents strength, and pride. It's what I like to see myself as…"

She smiled. "I think you are. Strong and proud, I mean."

"You don't even know me," muttered Squall.

"You said that already, and yes, I do know you," she said in a matter-of-fact tone. "You're Squall. And you're strong and proud. You're also quite mysterious, but once someone talks to you enough, you're actually pretty easy to read. You put on a tough act, make it look like you're really strong, but really you're suffering on the inside. I can see right through you, Squall."

Squall stared at her. "How did you…?" He quickly stopped himself. He was not going to tell her that she was right … because she _wasn't _right. _I'm not suffering at all … I'm strong and proud, just like mom and Ellone… _

"How did I know?" said the girl, smiling cheekily. Her voice was suddenly eerily soft, "Because you and me are the same…"

"What?" said Squall, not understanding what she meant. _We're not the same at all … she's bloody nuts, this girl…_

She grinned at him, ignoring his questioning look. "Face it, I know basically everything about you now, which means you're my friend. And remember what I told you about friends? I tell you things, and you tell me things. Got it?"

Squall wanted to argue, but he couldn't find the words. _Friends? I tried to mug this girl yesterday and she wants to be _friends_? This isn't good … it means she wants something. I just know it. That's what all 'friends' do. Even when you think you're the happiest person in the world, in the end, you're always alone. Why should I believe her? She'll just walk out of my life like everyone else does. Like dad, and mom, and Ellone, and all those other so-called 'friends' of mine. What's the point in getting my hopes up when she'll just leave?_

"Let me guess … you prefer to be alone?" she said, when Squall didn't say anything. Before he could answer her, she continued on. "Well, let me tell you this, Squall. You can't be alone all your life. Even if people do end up leaving you, at least you can embrace the memory they left behind instead of trying to forget about them and beating yourself up in the process. But me … no, I'll never leave you. Because I'll have nowhere to go! If you just let me be your friend, Squall, I know I can't possibly ever leave you … because you'll probably be the only real friend I'll have. So, what do you say?"

Squall didn't say anything. _Nobody ever talks like this to me. Not anymore. This is just plain weird … she's promising that she'll never leave me? She doesn't even know me. She claims to know me, but everyone does … they all claim they know me, but they don't. But then again … she does know more about me than anyone else, and I've only just met her. She says she can read me like a book … I don't want that … I refuse to be a predictable pawn… And besides, I don't even know _her. _I shouldn't trust her … I just know she'll turn out like everyone else. She'll just ask for something and when she gets it, she'll leave. But then again, she hasn't got friends either. Wait, I'm not _pitying _her am I?…Oh heck, what is there to lose? We both don't have friends to begin with, and I know we'll just walk out of this as not being 'friends' anymore…_

"I don't even know you," mumbled Squall.

"Oh, how rude of me," she said, "My name is Rinoa. Rinoa Heartilly. There, now you know who I am. So, friends then?"

_No … don't do it…_

Squall hesitated, and suddenly it was like he couldn't hear his brain talking to him anymore. Instead … it might have been his heart speaking to him. "Fine. But you'll regret it."

Rinoa beamed at him. "All right! Then I'll see you tomorrow then, here at Obel Lake. Be here; don't be here … I don't mind reminiscing on these waters alone. Bye then!" She stood up and turned around, walking away with a merry skip in her strut.

Squall watched Rinoa's back disappearing slowly. He wondered what he had just got himself into. Maybe starting anew wasn't so bad after all…

**A/N: **So, guys! What do you think? Does it sound like something worth continuing? Things will get a lot more interesting after I develop their relationship a bit more. Well,developing the relationship isthe hard bit for me when it comes to AU fics, I like the relationship already having been developed for me so I can get tothe drama straight away (I have limited patience with myself XD). Seriously, how do you guys write AU fics so well? So some advice would be nice. Please tell me what you think! It would be greatly appreciated :-)


	3. Broken Words

**A/N: **Thank you for your reviews, everyone! They all meant a lot to me, and I'm glad you think the fic is worth continuing. I'm going to try and accomodate to all of your criticism to make this a good fic, so please continue reading and tell me what you think!Oh, I got the idea for this particular fic from a story my friend was telling me, which leads to my response to LoveCorea's review. I actually got the idea for this fic from that story my friend was telling me, I don't know of any story that already exists that has anything along the same lines, so maybe that's where my friend got the idea from. But just to be safe, I'll add it to the disclaimer in the first chapter.

Anyway, enough of that ...here comes the next chapter :)

**Flying with Broken Wings**

**Chapter 3 - Broken Words**

Rinoa ate breakfast the next morning in quite a hurry. Caraway watched from the other side of the table with a strange look on his face, wondering why his daughter was so enthusiastic about breakfast. He was also quite confused as to why Rinoa was so happy all of a sudden. Since he came home the previous day from the army office, she was rather bright and every time he glanced at her, she always appeared to be smiling. It was a good thing, of course, that his daughter was happy with her life at home, but it was indeed rather strange.

"Dad, can I go out for a bit?" asked Rinoa, washing up her dishes from breakfast. "Just for a while of course … I'll be back by lunch."

"You … want to go out?" asked Caraway, raising an eyebrow.

"Um, yeah, if it's all right," murmured Rinoa.

"Oh … err, of course it's all right," said Caraway. What was strange about it was that Rinoa was actually asking for his permission nicely instead of just leaving without saying anything, or asking grouchily and throwing a tantrum when he said 'no'. But this was quite different, and he was so flabbergasted with his daughter's demeanour that a 'yes' slipped out of his mouth instead of a 'no'.

"Who are you going with? Min?"

"Min moved away, remember, Dad?" said Rinoa patiently.

Caraway was even more amazed that Rinoa was calling him 'dad' again. "Oh, right, how silly of me. Then who are you going with? You're not going alone, are you? What if you have an attack?"

"I'm not going alone," said Rinoa, turning from the sink and drying her hands. "I'm going with another friend. And I haven't had an attack in ages, don't worry about it."

"The attacks are unpredictable, Rinoa, it could come at any second," said Caraway.

Rinoa rolled her eyes. "Yeah, whatever … but I can go, right?"

"Yes, all right … just bring your retainer with you," said Caraway.

"Yeah, yeah," mumbled Rinoa, "thanks, Dad."

Caraway couldn't help but smile. "Be back by lunch, all right?"

"Yes, yes, I know…" Rinoa picked up her bag and said a last goodbye to her father, then set out of the house for Obel Lake. Her familiar smile crept across her face again as she walked. She had been smiling an awful lot since she left Squall the previous day. She couldn't understand why she just felt so damn happy. He was on her mind all the time, and she kept replaying the conversation they had over and over again in her mind. She couldn't help but smile every time she remembered something new he said, and she couldn't help but have the urge to squeal like a little schoolgirl every time she thought about him.

_I'm losing my grip, _thought Rinoa, _I'm thinking about a _guy _for Hyne's sake. I mean, that's not unusual or anything … but I've never thought about someone like this _all _the time! I just can't get him out of my head … I want to know more about him … I have this urge to break that shell around him and see what's inside … there's more to him than a tough guy, I just know it. But it's not as if I _like _him or anything … I mean, I _like _him but not _like-like _him. He's my friend … I'm just so happy because I have a new friend now, that's all._

As Rinoa reached the lake, she scanned the area for Squall hopefully. But to her disappointment, he wasn't there. Her smile faded, but she wasn't going to go home just because he didn't show up. She was going to sit on the edge of the lake and reminisce and daydream again, just like she used to…

"Looks like you're having fun without me," mumbled a familiar voice from behind.

Rinoa almost jumped in surprise as she turned around with a start, only to be greeted with a cold gaze from a very familiar-looking Squall. He had his arms folded across his chest in a careless stance, his face very unsmiling and his eyes filled with no emotion whatsoever.

"Squall!" said Rinoa, trying not to sound too excited. She cleared her throat quickly and jumped up to stand eye-level with him. "So, Mr Tough Guy wanted to come after all, huh?"

"Whatever," murmured Squall, "I only came here because I come here everyday. If anything, you're invading _my _territory…"

Rinoa giggled girlishly. "Right, _your _territory. I've been coming here since I was born, I don't recall ever seeing _you_ here everyday."

"Well, I can't say I've ever seen _you _here, either," argued Squall, somewhat childishly.

"That's because I only started coming back yesterday, since school is over and I don't have to work at the moment," said Rinoa earnestly, "And yes, I do admit it, the last time I came here was when I was eight. But I've never seen you around before. And I've never seen you at school, either. Unless … you go to some other school. But even if that's the case, I've never seen you around town either. And…"

_She sure likes to talk a lot, _thought Squall, not really listening to Rinoa ramble on. _I wonder when she'll shut up and let me answer her stupid questions. Wait, why I am even _considering_ answering her questions? It's none of her business…_

"…So, what do you have to say about _that, _wise guy?" asked Rinoa tauntingly.

"I _say_ that I just moved here," snapped Squall irritably, not even hearing half of what Rinoa had said.

"Ohh, new guy, huh?" said Rinoa, "Why didn't you say so! When did you move into town?"

Squall said nothing at first, but couldn't help but give into the fact that he actually _wanted _to answer her. "I moved here a week ago…"

"Wow, cool," said Rinoa, nodding, "So what school are you gonna go to? Or … have you already finished school? I mean, you sure look like you've finished school—"

"I'm still in school," interjected Squall dully, before she could ramble on any further. "I guess I'll be attending Timber High…"

"Excellent!" said Rinoa cheerfully, "That's the school I go to. Well, I figured as much since there aren't many schools in the area. So, what grade are you in?"

"What grade are _you _in?" asked Squall mockingly.

He couldn't believe someone could be so full of trivial questions in the first five minutes of a meeting. Just the day before, she wasn't as talkative as she was today. Or rather, she didn't ask so many questions the previous day. Squall hated questions … it meant that he had to talk. And he hated talking. In fact, he didn't even know why he was standing in front of this girl and talking to her. He didn't know what possessed him to come that morning, but he certainly hoped that it wasn't because Rinoa was going to be there. But then again, a tiny portion of him knew that it _was_ because Rinoa was going to be there.

Rinoa grinned sheepishly. "Guess."

Squall rolled his eyes. "No…"

"C'mon, guess!"

_Hyne, I wonder if she's always like this … I have no idea how old she is, but she seriously does act like an eight-year-old._

"I give up."

Rinoa stuck her tongue out at him. "You're no fun. I'm in the twelfth grade. Well, I will be after the summer."

"So am I," mumbled Squall.

"Hehe, I just knew it," tittered Rinoa.

_Then why did you ask me if you 'just knew it'?_

"So, when's your birthday?" asked Rinoa.

_Not again…_

"No wait, let me guess," said Rinoa cheerfully, as if knowing that Squall didn't want to answer questions, "I'm guessing you were born in … August?"

Squall stared at her, trying to disguise any amazement or disbelief in his face.

"So am I right?"

"Uh … well, yeah, you are," murmured Squall slowly. He hesitated. "How did you…?"

Rinoa grinned. "How did I know? I kinda had a gut feeling. I remembered you really liked lions and you thought of yourself as strong and proud, just like lions. So I figured you were a Leo."

_Oh, astrology, _thought Squall, _Well, that's all a load of bull. She must be one of those girls who are obsessed with horoscopes and look them up in magazines and everything…_

"And let me guess what date," said Rinoa. She looked deep in thought for a second. "Um … the seventeenth. No? Hmm … twentieth. No wait … twenty-third."

Squall couldn't believe it … she got it again. He slowly nodded, and to his dread, Rinoa squealed with delight.

"Wow, I got it!" said Rinoa happily. "You wanna know how I guessed?"

"No…" said Squall.

"Well, I'm gonna tell you anyway because I want you to know how great I am," said Rinoa cheekily. "I guessed August because of the lion thing. I guessed seventeen first, because that's how old you should be right now, but that's stupid so I guessed twentieth because it's a nice number. But then I guessed twenty-third because it's the last day for Leos."

_Right … whatever, _thought Squall, _It's not as if I care… _But he couldn't help but be slightly impressed that she managed to guess his birthday in only three tries. There was something about her way of thinking that somewhat fascinated him…

"And I bet you're thinking that I'm some crazy girl obsessed with star signs and all that, right?" said Rinoa, grinning sheepishly. "Well, I'm not really, I'm just very interested in stars and astronomy and all that. You know, my mom and my dad and me used to sit on our roof when I couldn't sleep and we'd watch the stars together. But when mom died, I guess we stopped doing that…"

_Oh great, now she's going to go all teary and reminisce about her past, _thought Squall, _Why did I bother to come today?_

"…But oh well … I really want to see a shooting star one day," said Rinoa dreamily.

"Whatever…"

"Yes, it's great to see you're interested in my dreams," said Rinoa jokingly, "But I guess I'll tell you about them another day."

_How about never?_

"Say, you wanna go into town?" asked Rinoa, completely changing the subject. "I'll show you around, if you like. That way you can find another place to hang out instead of this lake."

"But I like this lake," murmured Squall. _Great, now I'm thinking out loud…_

"Oh, yeah, true that," said Rinoa, nodding. "Well, I guess we can share it. I don't really like sharing, but I'll make an exception for now. I mean, I never grew up with brothers or sisters. I wish I had, though. I probably wouldn't be this lonely."

_She doesn't know what it's like to be alone … not really._

"But … I guess I wouldn't be so lonely with you around, right?" said Rinoa brightly.

"I wouldn't count on it," said Squall.

Rinoa giggled. "Sure, okay, whatever you say. Do you have any siblings?"

Squall shrugged his shoulders uncaringly.

Rinoa mimicked him mockingly. "What's that supposed to mean? You don't know?"

Squall rolled his eyes. "Whatever…"

Rinoa giggled again. "I think you misunderstood me. My question was _'Do you have any siblings?' _As in brothers or sisters."

_Hyne, she's making me feel like a handicapped five-year-old, _thought Squall bitterly. He usually gave vague responses as asign that he didn't care about what people had to say, or he didn't want to answer. Most people usually took the hint. But Rinoa was acting as if he was stupid, and it annoyed him. _Maybe this is her way of trying to get me to talk … making me feel stupid. Well, I guess it's working. I don't care what people think about me, so long as they don't think I'm a weak fool._

"I'm not dumb, you know," said Squall irritably.

"Then answer the question, Mr Smarty-pants," said Rinoa happily.

_She's so full of joy … it sickens me. _

"I had a sister," mumbled Squall.

"Had?"

"Yes, _had_," repeated Squall coldly. He paused. "Well … she wasn't really my sister. She was _like_ my sister. But I had to leave her behind when we moved…"

"Oh," said Rinoa quietly, "So you left her last week?"

"No … I left her eight years ago," muttered Squall, averting his gaze from Rinoa's face, "I've moved around a lot since my mom died. I just wanna go back home … my real home … but I can't…"

"Why not…?" asked Rinoa quietly, cocking her head.

Squall looked back to Rinoa, innocent curiosity filled in her brown eyes. He couldn't believe that he'd already told her so much about his personal life … nobody knew this much about him. He didn't know what it was, but he felt somewhat drawn to talk to her. He didn't feel too annoyed to speak to her like he did with other people. Maybe it was because there was a mysterious understanding between them. It was true that they were such completely different people, but then again they were the same when it came to their past, when it came to family…

"Because my father's a moron," murmured Squall.

Rinoa smiled warmly. "Yeah. I know how it feels."

Something inside of Squall made him believe what Rinoa said. Most of the time, he didn't care about what people said to him because they were all saying it out of pity … but somehow, he felt that Rinoa was different…

"Do you still want to go into town?" asked Rinoa quietly.

Squall shook his head. _I don't want to be seen…_

"Are you going to go home…?"

"As if…" _No way am I going back to that empty house that I'm supposed to call a home._

"Oh okay … so you wanna stay here with me?" asked Rinoa sweetly.

_I prefer not to see it in that way…_

"More like _you _want to stay here with _me_," retorted Squall.

Rinoa laughed. "All right, fine, I wanna stay here with you then." She sat herself down on the edge and let her feet dangle off the side. She patted the spot next to her, inviting Squall to sit down.

Squall reluctantly seated himself beside the raven-haired girl. _I guess staying a bit won't hurt … after all, _she's _staying with _me, _not the other way around…_

"So, what brings you to little Timber, Squall?" asked Rinoa.

Squall shrugged. "Laguna…"

"What?"

"Laguna," repeated Squall, "_My father_."

"Oh, I see," said Rinoa, "Interesting. I call_ my father _Caraway. It's his last name that I refuse to take after…"

"Same here," murmured Squall.

"Oh, really?" asked Rinoa, "Wow, it never ends, does it? I wonder what else we have in common? Next thing you know, I'll find out that you're my long lost brother or something." She flicked a mischievous grin. "But I hope that's not the case."

_Whatever…_

"What's the last name you go by?" asked Squall, surprised that he even asked at all.

Rinoa smiled. "Heartilly."

_Heartilly … I've heard that name from somewhere_, thought Squall.

"Yours?" asked Rinoa.

"Leonhart…"

"Leonhart!" gasped Rinoa, "No wonder you love lions so much … you're a Leo, you're proud, your last name is _Leo_nhart…"

Squall shrugged. He didn't want to start talking about himself, so he continued to ask questions about Rinoa. "Heartilly … that name sounds really familiar…"

Rinoa laughed. "Yeah. I'm surprised you think it's familiar; it's more of a pop culture kind of thing. And you're pretty out of touch, if you don't mind me saying so."

Squall shrugged again. _It's true … it's not as if I care about what goes on in this world…_

"My mom was Julia Heartilly," said Rinoa, "She was a famous singer. But nobody really cares anymore after she died."

"Oh," mumbled Squall, "So I'm guessing you loved the attention…"

It was Rinoa's turn to shrug. "Maybe I did. I don't love spotlight or anything, but I've always hated the fact that everyone only cared about me because I was the daughter of a famous singer. And it's not as if I get enough attention already. I just want to be loved for who I am, not what I am. And not out of pity too … 'cause I'm different…" She trailed off in thought.

_Yeah, maybe she is a little different, _thought Squall. _But I would've guessed that she has a lot of friends … there doesn't seem to be anything wrong with her. But I understand where she's coming from … people only care about me because they want something, since Laguna is so rich and everything._

"I know how you feel," murmured Squall, as if it would make her feel better.

Rinoa smiled a small smile. "Maybe you do … but nobody could possibly know how it feels to be me…"

_What, so now she's acting as if she's got it worse than me? Yeah whatever … all these teenaged girls are the same. They all think they've got horrible lives when they've actually got it pretty good. She's just like everyone else … she's not different at all._

"Don't say that," said Squall, annoyed.

Rinoa looked mildly surprised. "Don't say what?"

"That nobody knows how it feels," replied Squall, "It makes it sound like you're some attention-seeking, emotionally confused thirteen-year-old. You say you don't want pity, but you're practically screaming for it by saying stuff like that. You think you've got it bad? My mom's dead too, you know. My dad's an asshole too, you know. I've had to leave everything I ever loved and cared for behind. People _use_ meall the time. I mightn't be loved because my mom was a famous singer, but at least you_ were_ loved. So _don't _say shit like that about yourself because you're just being selfish."

Squall was amazed with what he'd just said. It was probably the most he had said to anybody in nine years. He didn't know what drove him to be so harsh with his words, but the fact that Rinoa was putting herself down annoyed him. Sure, he always got annoyed with people who put themselves down for pity, but usually he didn't say anything about it. But with Rinoa … it just didn't seem right for someone like herself to be speaking in such a depressed tone. Maybe this was his way of caring…

Rinoa fell silent, clearly surprised and affected by Squall's outburst. She avoided his gaze, her brown eyes settling on the blue lake. She bit her bottom lip nervously, as if trying to hold something back. Squall suddenly felt very awkward. He honestly hoped that she wasn't going to start crying, because that would probably seem like the end of the world to him. He had never faced anybody crying to him before, because he didn't know what to do or say. He usually thought of saying 'whatever' and would leave the crying person to face their own problems, but even thinking of doing that to Rinoa seemed wrong to him. He was beginning to regret having said anything in the first place.

"…You're right," said Rinoa finally, much to Squall's surprise. She still did not look at him. "Maybe I shouldn't complain. I mean, I do have it pretty good. It's just…" She bit her bottom lip harder, so hard that it was beginning to hurt and squeezed her eyes closed.

_No … please don't cry, _thought Squall frantically. _If you cry you'll expect me to comfort you or something … I'm not good at that stuff…_

"It's just … sometimes I just feel nobody could ever understand me," said Rinoa quietly, keeping her eyes shut and her face forced, "B-but … Squall, I guess you understand m-me…" She opened her eyes, and sure enough, her eyes were red from holding back tears, though she was rather good at holding back those tears that tried to come out. She quickly wiped her eyes with the back of her hand.

"I feel like you do understand me," said Rinoa quietly, "It's like I know you so well, even if we've only known each other for two days…"

Squall remained silent.

It was uncalled for, but Rinoa rested her head on Squall's shoulder. This gesture made Squall's heart skip beats and he desperately wanted the girl next to him to withdraw the physical contact she made with him. It was making him feel slightly nervous, but he was very good at concealing this nervousness. But as much as he wanted her to get off him, she left off certain warmth that he did not want to leave him. He couldn't find the words or actions to shoo her off his shoulder and continued to let her rest on him in silence, as if nothing happened.

"I just feel so alone sometimes…"

_You're not alone, _thought Squall.

"And I do try to be happy, I honestly do," continued Rinoa, "But … it just gets to a certain point where I _can't_ pretend anymore. And all of these bitter bottled emotions I keep inside of me … I just want to heartlessly throw them at everyone around me so they can get a taste of what it's like…"

_It's the same with me, _thought Squall. He realised they were very much the same. They both hid behind masks of what they wanted to be, but behind the mask was somebody wanting to be like everyone else. To be loved like everyone else, to be seen like everyone else… They just hid behind different masks. Rinoa had a mask of sweet pleasantness and Squall hid behind a mask of the desire to be isolated, the badass loner who hated everyone and everything. But both of them wanted the same thing … they desperately wanted someone to lean on. The only difference was that Rinoa knew that she wanted this, and Squall didn't.

"It's not my problem," murmured Squall, ignoring everything his thoughts were telling him. He didn't care if they were the same. He was not going to care about anyone else because they were either going to end up leaving him or betraying him. That's what he wanted to believe, anyway.

Rinoa fought the urge to cry at Squall's remark. "How can you say that? I'm telling you how I feel and all you do is throw it back at me…"

"I don't care how you feel," said Squall emotionlessly, "I don't need to hear your problems, I have my own…"

"Is it because you don't care about my problems, or is it because you have the same ones?" asked Rinoa quietly.

Squall fell silent. He couldn't believe that she got him again. It _was _like she could see right through him, as if she could read him like an open book…

"You don't want to hear my feelings because they remind you of your own, don't they?" said Rinoa softly, "And I _know_ you just want to forget who you are…"

"…You wouldn't understand…"

Rinoa closed her eyes, nuzzling herself closer into Squall's shoulder, who tried to take no notice of it. "It's funny how you just refuse to believe that someone _does _understand how you feel, Squall. You said so yourself ... you shouldn't say that nobody understands because you're just being selfish. You said so yourself … you're just like me, and apparently much worse off than I am."

'_Apparently'? Even now she acts like her life ismore messed up than mine…_

"So of course I understand," said Rinoa dreamily, "I can read you like a book, Squall. It's just the pages are all torn and the words are all over the place. But I'll help you put the story back together … I know I can…"

_And now she's acting as if she knows me. She thinks she can fix my problems now. Hell, if she could fix my problems then I sure as hell can. They all say that … 'I'll help you, Squall' … but they never do help. She's just like everyone else..._

"You just have to let me," she whispered.

_Whatever…_

"I can just … I …"

Rinoa suddenly jerked off Squall's shoulder with a start. She was trying to speak, but the only sound that came from her was raspy breaths. She grasped at her chest with one hand and grabbed Squall's shoulder with the other.

Squall looked at her, wondering what was wrong. Her behaviour was alarming – she looked as if she was choking on her own breath. Her eyes began to water and she suddenly coughed up blood.

"R-Rinoa…?" said Squall, startled.

"S-S…" Her clasp around Squall's shoulder released and she attempted to stand up on wobbly knees. Her free hand shakily reached into her pocket slowly. Her eyes were hazing up and the sound of her stifled breaths sounded like a cross between sobbing and choking.

Squall stood up, panic rising in his chest. "Rinoa, what's wrong?"

The girl still had her hand clutching at her chest tightly, her other hand shakily trying to look for something in her pocket. Her strange breathing continued and she was much paler than she was before. She was in a cold sweat, her eyes fogging up and her lips trying to accommodate to the uneven breaths. Suddenly, her eyes were halfway closed and her body loosened, collapsing backward right into the lake with a sudden _splash._

"Rinoa!" shouted Squall.

_Damn it … what do I do now?_

* * *


	4. Broken Dreams

**Flying with Broken Wings**

**Chapter 4 - Broken Dreams**

For a short couple of seconds, Squall could not grasp the situation properly. His heart was pounding madly inside his chest, not knowing what he should do. Rinoa's strange behaviour was startling, and the tension only skyrocketed when she fell into the lake. His body was numb with apprehension, his mind thudding too many different thoughts at him for him to handle.

_Why should _I _save her? It's not my problem…_

_You idiot, she might die if you don't do anything, _a voice in his head argued.

_And so what if she dies? It's not my fault…_

He looked into the clear water and couldn't see Rinoa as of yet. The fear in his chest zipped to his mind within a split second, and this fear made him act quickly. Without thinking, he took off his leather jacket hastily, along with his boots, tossing them to the side carelessly. He took a deep breath and jumped into the lake, the water not being as cold as he expected it to be.

He strained his vision and searched for any sign of the dark-haired girl. Every second that passed felt like an hour, until he finally spotted her. He swam as quickly as he could, although the weight of his clothes slowed him down just a little. As he approached Rinoa, he noticed immediately that she was unconscious. Without delay, he grabbed her and held onto her tightly and made his way up to the surface of the lake.

It took Squall longer than he hoped for to get to the surface. Rinoa was very light in his arms, but it was the fact that he felt that he couldn't hold his breath any longer. He kept his muscular arms tight around her and inched closer to the surface…

_Almost there … c'mon … just a little more…_

At last, he emerged above the water. He gasped for air longingly, taking the sweet feeling down his lungs as if he were born again. He made his way to the bay; making sure Rinoa's head was above the water. As he reached the bay, he pushed himself out of the lake and onto dry land and pulled Rinoa up carefully after him. At that very moment, a summer breeze blew by, making him shiver slightly.

Squall laid Rinoa down on her back and sat beside her, staring at her lifeless body. Her mouth was open, forming a small 'o' shape and her eyes were gently closed. Her chest failed to rise and fall, her lips were icy blue, and her skin was paler than ever. Her black hair clung together wetly, some stray strands in her face. He bent over to her examine her carefully. He shook her gently, calling her name to see if she would answer.

"Rinoa … Rinoa, can you hear me?" he asked.

_Come on … wake up … don't die on me…_

"Rinoa," said Squall a little louder, "Wake up."

No response.

He noticed that she was not breathing. He grabbed her wrist and checked for a pulse, and was lucky to find a very faint one. The dread in him had evaporated, and was replaced with a feeling of unsureness. He didn't know what to do … he was no doctor, after all.

_Wait … I learned mouth to mouth at one of my old schools…_

Squall hesitated. He was not exactly comfortable with the thought of performing mouth-to-mouth on Rinoa.

_You numbskull, she's gonna die if you don't do anything soon!_

_So what if she dies? It wouldn't make a difference to me…_

Squall knew he didn't mean that, and the thought of Rinoa dying was somewhat frightening to him. He didn't want to admit it, but he just knew that if she died and he didn't do anything to help her just because of his damned pride, then a guilty feeling would weigh on his shoulders for the rest of his life, just like the one that haunted him when it came to Raine…

With a moment of hesitation, Squall flipped the wet strands of chestnut hair in his eyes out of his face and reluctantly bent over to place his mouth over Rinoa's. Her cold lips sent shivers up and down his spine. He tried to ignore the feeling and drew breath, breathing his life into her lungs.

Two … three … four slow breaths went by and still, Rinoa did not show any signs of life.

_Wake up … why won't you wake up?_

Squall took another deep breath and let it go down Rinoa's throat. Suddenly, he heard a dainty cough, and Rinoa shot up straight away. Squall staggered backwards with the sudden movement and just sat there, watching the dark-haired girl silently. His heart began to beat at its normal pace again, and relief swept through his senses at Rinoa's awakening.

Rinoa coughed up water mixed with blood and her hand almost immediately zoomed to her pocket, pulling out her retainer and inhaling its contents slowly. Her earthy eyes met Squall's eyes, and he quickly looked away with embarrassment. She put her inhaler away and pulled her wet, dripping hair out of her face.

"D-Did you just save me?" she stammered.

_There isn't anyone else here, is there?_

Squall shrugged.

Rinoa heaved a deep sigh, her eyes taking in the fact that Squall was drenched to the bone. "Y-You did, didn't you…? Th-thank you…"

Squall noticed her teeth chattering very loudly and saw that she was shivering. He found this rather strange, seeing as how the water wasn't at all cold and the day was quite a warm one. He leaned over to the side and grabbed his leather jacket, tossing it over to her.

"Put it on," mumbled Squall.

Rinoa nodded quickly, obviously glad that Squall was not asking questions about her erratic behaviour. She pulled his leather jacket over her shoulders, snuggling into its warmth. Her rapid breathing began to slow down back to normal speed and her temperature eventually returned to its ordinary state. She looked at him behind the strands of wet hair in her eyes, her bottom lip still slightly quivering.

Squall tried not to notice that she was staring at him. He wanted nothing more than to be somewhere else at that moment. The awkwardness of the situation was making him uncomfortable. Yet, his legs did not want to get up and walk away from Rinoa. Still, he remained stationed in the same spot, trying to pretend as if nothing happened.

" I … I suppose you want to know what just happened," said Rinoa quietly.

Squall said nothing.

"Don't you?" cried Rinoa suddenly, not standing Squall's silence any longer. It was apparent that his behaviour was either making her nervous or annoyed.

Squall still remained silent. Honestly, he didn't know what to say. He didn't really care what had just happened … maybe he was a little curious, but he didn't care. He didn't want to care. He didn't want to make someone else's problem his own.

"Urgh … you're so _impossible_!" cried Rinoa irritably.

She took off Squall's jacket and it looked like she was about to leave, much to Squall's relief. Rinoa got up on her feet, but it was very clear that her legs were wobbly and her balance was still unstable from her blackout. Her knees gave way and she fell to the ground again.

"I wouldn't try to move so quickly if I were you," murmured Squall.

Rinoa groaned in frustration. "Don't you think I figured that out by now?"

He couldn't help it, but Squall let out a stifled laugh. He tried to wipe the smirk off his face, but it was a littlehard. He didn't know why … but Rinoa's frustration was very amusing to him. She reminded him of a kitten trying very hard to be a tiger, but no matter how hard she tried, she was still a helpless little kitten.

Rinoa raised an eyebrow, quite amazed that Squall so much as even smiled. Her frustrated grimace slowly turned into a weak grin.

"Don't laugh at me," she said pathetically, not knowing what else to say.

Squall tried very hard to keep a straight face, but did not succeed. Another short laugh escaped his mouth, and he tried to refrain from laughing anymore. This unusual change in his mood was very strange to him, maybe even frightening. He tried to resist showing any more signs of happiness … happiness was not supposed to be a part of his vocabulary…

"Oh, you think it's funny, huh?" cried Rinoa, "Yeah, well, we'll see about that!"

_Uh-oh…_

Squall braced himself for the worst. He watched with amusement as Rinoa picked herself up with a look of mock-anger, only to give in to her weak knees. She tried to retain her balance, but ended up collapsing again. Slightly panicked, she flung her arms around Squall as she fell to avoid hitting the ground face first.

Her touch sent jolts through Squall's body. As a common reflex, he flinched slightly, absolutely hating this feeling. He turned to Rinoa, who was still grasping onto him tightly, and gave her an unintentionally bitter look. Rinoa, embarrassed with her actions, quickly withdrew from Squall and maintained a good distance away from him. She sat herself down again and sighed.

"Looks like my plan backfired," said Rinoa. She sighed again, tucking some strands of hair behind her ear. The sun was beginning to dry her off and warm her up. "Well, at least I got to go for a nice swim."

Squall smirked, trying to get rid of that jolty feeling Rinoa left in him. "Yeah, 'nice'…"

Rinoa smiled. "Hey, you looked like you could've done for a nice bath."

"What?"

Rinoa's smile turned into a cheeky grin. "When was the last time you had a shower?"

"Uh…"

Rinoa laughed out loud. "Wow, it was so long ago that you can't even remember?"

"Whatever," glowered Squall, but he was somewhat embarrassed. He had been away from home for such a long time…

"Relax, I'm just joking!" said Rinoa, "Honestly, you need to lighten up."

_Here we go again…_He didn't want to admit it, but Squall was somewhat grateful that Rinoa was at her cheerfulness again.

"I mean, you were just _laughing _two seconds ago!" said Rinoa, "That just goes to show that it _is _possible, even for you, Squall Leonhart."

"Whatever…"

Rinoa smiled, taking no notice of his 'whatever'. She didn't say anything. She just stared at him with those innocent brown eyes…

_Why is she looking at me like that? _Squall looked away, acting as if she wasn'tstaring at him. _Hyne, stop looking at me! I'm not some freak at a museum…_

"Oh my god, what's the time?" said Rinoa suddenly, her smile disappearing.

Squall, grateful that she stopped staring at him, checked his watch. He found that it wasn't working from diving into the water. Instead, he looked at the sky.

"Hmm … it should be past noon," he answered, examining the position of the sun in the sky.

"Past noon!" breathed Rinoa, "Oh no, I'm late…" She fumbled clumsily around and tried to get up. She still hadn't regained her balance, so she hopelessly fell to the ground again. She groaned in frustration and tried to get up, only to fall yet again.

Squall got up on his feet slowly, obviously not in a rush. He didn't know what Rinoa was late for, and didn't ask. But it did seem awfully important. He extended both of his hands out to Rinoa to help her up.

Rinoa stared at the hands Squall held out, not knowing what he was doing. At first, it looked like he wanted a hug, but the thought was so absurd that she began to question her consciousness.

"Do you want my help or not?" asked Squall irritably when he found Rinoa staring dumbly at him.

"Oh, right," said Rinoa, embarrassed. _I didn't think he'd actually _want _to help me … but hey, he pulled me out of a lake so why not this…?_

She grabbed both his hands with her own, and Squall pulled up her up with little difficulty. As soon as she was up on her feet, she felt her knees wobble again and had a feeling that she was going to fall at any second. Luckily, Squall was still holding onto her so he kept her balanced.

The shaking in her knees stopped and it felt like she could walk on her own again. "Ah, I think I've got my balance back." She didn't let go of Squall's hands.

"Uh … you can let go of me now," said Squall uncomfortably.

"Do I have to?" said Rinoa innocently.

Squall pretended he didn't hear that. "Aren't you _late _for something?"

Rinoa giggled. "Relax, I was just messing with you." She was clearly amused with the way Squall tried to avoid any kind of affection at all costs. She let go of Squall's hands and found herself stable again. "But yeah, I _am_ late … I'll see you around, Squall."

Squall nodded silently.

Rinoa turned around and began to run back into town. She stopped midway and turned back to Squall.

"Squall!" she shouted.

Squall cocked his head, wondering what she wanted now. Although she was at a distance, Squall could easily spot Rinoa's bright smile.

"Go home, would you?" she called out. And with a laugh, she turned on her heel and began running back into town again.

_How did she know I've been away from home?_

* * *

"You're late, Rinoa."

Rinoa rolled her eyes. "Yeah, so?"

Caraway turned around, his face frustrated and stern. He folded his arms and looked down at his daughter, who was sitting on the chair at the kitchen table. He was not at all happy with Rinoa's tardiness to get home.

"You know how worried I was?" said Caraway, "I was waiting for a whole hour for you."

"You said to be home by _lunchtime_," said Rinoa, exasperated, "Last time I checked, we didn't have _lunch _at eleven thirty!"

"Don't speak to me like that," said Caraway menacingly.

"I'll speak to you however I want, thank you very much," said Rinoa simply. "And for your information, _dad_, the reason why I'm late is because I had an _attack._"

"See, that's the reason why I was worried about you!" shouted Caraway, "How can you be so careless? For all I know, you could be dead!"

"Well, I'm not, okay?" said Rinoa coldly, "I'm _fine_. My friend helped me out."

"You're not to leave this house ever again," said Caraway, "What if you were alone? What if your friend didn't know how to help you? What would you do then?"

"How is keeping me cooped up in this house is going to make things any better!" cried Rinoa, "See, the thing is, I _wasn't _alone. My friend _did _know how to help me." _That's not the entire truth, but it's not exactly a lie either… _"I'm not stupid enough to go places _alone_. In fact, you were the one who let me out in the first place because I was with someone else!"

"That's beside the point," said Caraway, not knowing what else to say. He knew he was defeated, but he didn't want to show any sign of weakness. "And what's that smell?"

Rinoa knew her father was referring to the salty smell of the lake. "Don't worry about it. You worry too much. Do yourself a favour and just … _stop _caring, would you? I don't need your pity!"

Caraway groaned in frustration, as Rinoa got out of the chair and marched to her bedroom, trying to block out anything Caraway was going to say to her.

"You can't keep using that line," said Caraway after her, "You need to grow up, Rinoa. You're acting like a stubborn, spoilt child."

Rinoa slammed the bedroom door.

"Because I'm not giving you any pity!" shouted Caraway. He murmured to himself, "I actually _care_ about you…"

Rinoa opened her wardrobe angrily, scrambling through the mass of clothes that were untidily arranged. She grabbed some clean clothes and slammed the door shut. She went into the bathroom and stared at herself in the mirror, seeing nothing but a flaming monster staring right back at her.

_Why am I so angry with him? I mean, I'm always angry with him … but _why_? Yeah, he's a moron and he can be a selfish pig sometimes … but maybe he's right when he says I need to grow up. I guess I'm stuck in my childhood because that was the best time of my life. I can't even remember why I hate Caraway anymore. I guess mom's death really screwed our relationship up … she was the one holding this family together…_

She sighed, unconsciously fiddling with the rings on her necklace again. Then she couldn't help but think of Squall when she realised she was holding onto Griever. She took off the chain and held the necklace in her hand, staring at the ring that was identical to Squall's. It was so mysterious … she couldn't help but wonder about _everything._

_He saved me today, _she thought. _I wonder why he did it. I knew he wasn't completely an asshole. But I don't know why he didn't want to know about my condition. _Everyone _wants to know about it… oh. I think I can guess. He probably doesn't want to know about my problems because it would make him feel like they're his problems too._

Rinoa sighed, putting the rings on table and looking at herself in the mirror again. She slightly smiled at herself, but turned the smile back into a neutral expression. She was far beyond feeling _happy _at that moment.

_And maybe that's why I shouldn't tell him … because he'd just hate me. But that's why I _should _tell him too. He can't just keep living like this, so blocked away from the world. He has to learn how to accept his surroundings. But … I don't know. It's too soon. I've only known him for … three days, not even three days. I suppose he has to learn to accept me as his friend first before I can tell him._

She decided just that. After a couple more seconds of staring at her reflection in the mirror, Rinoa couldn't stand the sticky feeling of sea water on her skin anymore, not to mention the smell. She undressed herself and stepped into the shower, washing herself clean from all her worries and faults…

* * *

Squall walked through the streets of Timber quietly, wondering whether he should or shouldn't have went home. He was halfway there already … so why didn't he just _go_? It was mostly because he didn't want to see his father, and he definitely didn't want to hear any kind of long speech or lecture Laguna was going to give him as soon as he walked through the door.

But maybe Rinoa was right … he should've just gone back. He didn't know how she knew he was away from home for so long. Perhaps it was because she saw the lack of sleep on his face. Or maybe he smelled really bad and needed to shower. Or maybe … she just _knew, _because she was _Rinoa_.

Squall shook out the absurd thoughts in his head out. _There's absolutely nothing special about her_, he kept telling himself.

In the end, Squall found himself in front of Laguna's fancy mansion. He sighed, pulled out his keys, and unlocked the gate. _It's now or never, _he thought to himself, entering the premises. He trudged down the stone path that led to the front door and found that the door was unlocked.

_Just my luck, he's home today, _thought Squall bitterly.

He turned the doorknob and stepped into the house, the cool feel of the air conditioning hitting his senses straight away. However, all he could see and smell was the emptiness and loneliness of the house. He made his way to his bedroom, hoping that Laguna would not detect his presence.

In truth, Squall took his home for granted. It was a spacious, luxurious house with fine architecture and expensive artwork on every wall. Laguna's job as president of the military was no joke when it came to money. There were no maids or butlers or servants anymore, but the house was still as clean as a whistle because nobody was ever home. There once used to be servants at his house to look after Squall when he was younger, but now that he was almost eighteen, servants were not at all necessary.

But the thing that Squall took for granted most was his father's love and care for him. Just like Rinoa, Squall was completely blind to the way Laguna genuinely cared about him. Laguna really did care for his son – it was just that he was too busy most of the time, and when he wasn't, Squall would just push him away. In the end, Laguna just gave up.

"Squall?"

Oh great … mission failed… 

Squall turned around with an irritable groan to find Laguna, standing in front of him with a look of surprise. It appeared that Laguna was about to leave for work soon, because he was fairly dressed up.

"Son, I was so worried about you," said Laguna, "you were gone for days and days and I just didn't—"

"I came back because I need money," interrupted Squall.

Laguna looked shocked and frustrated at the same time. "_Money? _Squall, why do you have to leave so often?"

"The same reason why _you _leave all the time," murmured Squall. _Because you don't care…_

"You don't know what you're talking about, Squall," said Laguna, flustered. "Please stay at home for now … _please_. I really worry about you."

"I can take care of myself…"

"I know you can," said Laguna. "It's just … I'd be able to sleep at night if I knew you were safe at home."

"Whatever," muttered Squall.

There was no point in arguing, because it would just lead them around in circles. Squall didn't even bother considering what Laguna said, and clambered up the stairs gloomily. He reached his bedroom and opened the door to be met with the familiar atmosphere of his shelter. The house itself was relatively new, but the room carried fragments of his childhood…

The bedroom was actually quite dull. There was nothing on his walls, and everything was very neat and tidy. Everything had its place, and nothing was out of line. The only thing that was worth noticing was his prized gunblade. Squall was skilled in sword arts and it was probably the only thing he was passionate about these days. The only subject in school that he actually enjoyed was his elective physical combat subject, which he aced in every time.

Other than the silver gunblade in his room, it was just plain walls, boring bed sheets, organised desk, and books neatly lined up on his bookshelf that he had read a million times already.

Squall kicked off his shoes and collapsed onto his bed. He felt his muscles loosen and couldn't help but feel relieved that he had a nice bed to sleep on again. Within seconds, Squall managed to fall asleep, despite being fully clothed and smelling salty.

…

'I can read you like a book, Squall. It's just … the pages are all torn and the words are all over the place. But I'll help you put the story back together … I know I can. You just have to let me…'

Rinoa withdrew her head from Squall's shoulder and stared at him with those innocent brown eyes. Squall turned to face her, and had a strange feeling that she was staring right into his soul. He couldn't help but feel a slight feeling of déjà vu.. He didn't know why he was speechless. He should have said 'whatever', but he couldn't find his voice.

There was silence between them, and the only sound that could be heard was the soft cawing of birds. They were alone by the lake … it was _their_ spot … and Squall's heart was thudding in his chest, completely dazed by the sweet expression Rinoa was wearing. Finally, he found his voice.

'I … I let you, Rinoa. Help me fix my story…"

Rinoa simply smiled sweetly and leaned closer to him, her face just inches away from his. Squall's heart skipped some more beats, not knowing what was happening. Before he knew it, Rinoa's full lips were pressed against his, sending multiple shivers up and down his spine. His mind was spinning. It was as if he was paralysed, put under a spell, so that he couldn't think straight or move properly.

When Squall was just about to pull away, Rinoa let out a loud gasp. Her eyes went glassy, and Squall tasted blood. However, it wasn't his blood … it was Rinoa's. What he thought was a kiss turned into the raven-haired girl gasping for breath, trying to steal Squall's breath in hope of saving her own life.

Rinoa fell back onto the bank, as if gravity was pulling her down, a droplet of crimson blood escaping the side of her mouth. A sparkling tear fell from her eyes, and in a raspy voice, she said, 'Save me … please, Squall…'

'R-Rinoa…'

And with that, the girl was dead.

…

Squall sprang up with a start, in a cold sweat, his breathing rapid. He looked around in a daze, only to find that he was still in his familiar bedroom, everything as still as he had left it. He looked at the alarm clock on the bedside table to find that only eight minutes had passed since he last checked the time.

He sighed and ran his hand through his chestnut-brown hair placidly. What _was _that? His muscles were tense again and he wanted nothing more than to just go back to sleep. But he couldn't sleep … not after that.

_It was just a dream, _he told himself. _It didn't mean anything. She didn't really kiss you and she didn't really die._

But what did it _mean_? The beginning of the dream was the conversation Squall and Rinoa had before her blackout … but that was the only thing he recognised. Why did he dream of Rinoa kissing him like that? And why did it turn out to be so frightening that she was actually _dying_? What did it all mean…?

_It means you like her, _said a taunting voice at the back of his head.

Squall immediately brushed that idea off without even a second thought. He _didn't _like Rinoa. He had no desire for her to kiss him, or fix his life, or _anything_.

_But you didn't pull away in that dream … it was as if you wanted it…_

Squall refused to listen to the voices in his head. It was just a crazy dream. People had crazy dreams all the time. It didn't really happen, and it was never going to happen. It wasn't as if he could control what he was dreaming anyway. But it was just a stupid dream. Nothing more.

_Then you're afraid she'll die,_ said that voice again. 

Maybe. _Maybe _he was afraid she'd die. But he couldn't care less. He saved her that morning because it was the right thing to do. He couldn't have just left her there to drown. But if she ever _did _die when he wasn't around, then he wouldn't feel regretful. He wouldn't even be sad. Rinoa was nothing to him … she was just a person he knew…

_You know that's not true._

_Shut up, _he argued back. _I've known her for three days. Not even three days. I don't even _know _her that well. Why should I care? Why should I take responsibility of her life? I'm not her father, I'm not her bodyguard, I'm not her boyfriend… I'm nothing of hers. _

_You're her friend…_

_No, I'm not. _

Squall looked at his hands. On his right hand was his Griever ring, and when he looked at it, he was reminded of Rinoa. She had the same ring as him, mysteriously. Why was that? Was it just a coincidence? It can't have been … Griever chooses only the strong people. It must have meant she was strong, in her own way…

And if Rinoa was strong, then she could take care of herself. She didn't need Squall, and he didn't need her, because he had Griever too. But … she needed him that morning, so that he could save her from drowning. Perhaps he was just as vulnerable as she was…

Squall sighed. He remembered what Rinoa said about him not having a shower. He decided it was about time that he showered, but it wasn't because _she _said it … it was because _he _was planning to shower soon anyway. But in reality, he really went home in the first place because Rinoa had suggested it…

Squall got up from his bed and walked over to his wardrobe, pulling out some clean clothes. He walked into his bathroom that was juxtaposed with his bedroom. He undressed and stepped into the shower, the cold water like ice on his skin, washing away his sins and maybe even some of his bitterness…

* * *

**A/N:** So, what did you think about that? Yes, so I know you guys didn't like the fact that Squall didn't know what was going on and Rinoa was tight-lipped in Lost Memories, and I wanted to change that in this fanfic, but I found it very unrealistic to have Rinoa tell someone she had just met about something as serious as a health condition and whatnot, so I couldn't ... I really contemplated on doing it in this chapter, but it just didn't seem right. But don't worry, he will know soon enough ... just not now;-) I hope you all don't hate me xD

Anyway, besides that, I just thought I'd share with you guys my new project ... it's my notebook, where I have my short stories (currently only one short story though XD) published. I've only shown one or two people so far, but I thought I would share it with you lovely supportive readers and reviewers of mine, just to see how I am in original fiction-writing. If you'd like to see, you can visit the page via the homepage link in my profile :-)

Btw, thank you for your reviews in my previous chapter, I really appreciate it :-) Please review for this chapter ... it would mean a lot to me. Well ... have a nice day, and until next chapter... -waves-

Lil'D


	5. Broken Boundaries

**A/N: **Hi everyone, thank you for your lovely reviews :-) I'm sorry it took so long to update this time around, my internet was really screwed up so I didn't have the chance. Btw, yes, all my chapter titles will begin with 'Broken' because that's kind of the theme of the story. Anywho, the chapter is here now and I will try to update as soon as I can. In the mean time, enjoy this chapter!

**Flying with Broken Wings**

**Chapter 5 – Broken Boundaries**

Days passed, and with every day, Rinoa and Squall would meet at Obel Lake. It was like an unsaid agreement that they would meet every day at the same time at the same place. They saw it as a coincidence, but secretly, they knew the reason as to why they kept running into each other was because they both _knew _that one of them would be waiting at the lake for the other.

Squall didn't know what it was that made him go there every day. Every morning, he would contemplate for a very long time as to whether or not he should go or not. In the end, he would go anyway, telling himself 'She probably won't be there', or 'I'm going there because I don't want to be at home and I don't want anyone in town to see me', or 'If she's there, it's just a coincidence.' However, deep inside, a little something drove him to go because he _knew _that the dark-haired girl with innocent earthen eyes and the sweet smile would be there. He hated to admit it, but he was getting used to her presence everyday…

As for Rinoa, she felt similarly. She didn't care what Caraway said; going down to the lake was like a daily ritual for her. But unlike Squall, she was willing to admit to herself that she was actually hoping that Squall would be there. She was always excited about her trips to the lake, and her heart would simply soar as soon as she saw him. The only thing she hated was the fact that sometimes, they would just meet there and all he would do is sit there passively and listen to her speak. He would hardly ever say anything unless she directly asked him to, and if he ever spoke, he would always do it in a cold and bitter manner. It was as if that slightest trace of cheerfulness he had the other day had completely evaporated, and he returned to his cynical self.

"It's your birthday soon," said Rinoa one day, while the two of them were sitting by the lake.

She was leaning back in a laidback manner, taking in the cool atmosphere of the day. Squall sat beside her, with about ten centimetres separating the both of them. He couldn't believe that Rinoa had remembered his birthday, because he sure as hell couldn't remember hers.

"Yeah."

"Aren't you excited?" asked Rinoa.

Squall shrugged.

"Aw, show a little enthusiasm," said Rinoa with a smile, "you're turning eighteen!"

"It's not for another two months or something," said Squall coolly.

"Correction, forty-eight days," said Rinoa in a matter-of-fact tone.

_She's counting down until my birthday?_

"Whatever," said Squall absentmindedly.

"Whatever," mimicked Rinoa mockingly. "Isn't there anything _else_ you say?"

Squall remained silent.

"I guess not," said Rinoa with a weak laugh. "Sometimes I wonder what's going in that thick head of yours."

"Are you calling me thick?" said Squall, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah, that's what I said!" said Rinoa, a cheeky grin flickering across her face.

Squall didn't want to fight back, but it felt like he had to. For some reason, he didn't want Rinoa to think that he was thick headed. But why should he care what other people thought? It shouldn't have mattered … he shouldn't have cared … he never cared…

_You can't just let her sit there and laugh at you._

"I'm not thick," said Squall simply.

"Aw, is that all you're gonna say?" said Rinoa teasingly. "I expected you to bite back. Because you're so proud, y'know?"

_So she made fun of me to get me to talk? And she's trying to take my so-called 'pride' to her advantage? Strange girl…_

"Aren't you going to say anything else?" asked Rinoa.

"No…"

"Fine then," said Rinoa in a childish tone.

There was silence. Rinoa simply sat there, staring at Squall with a dull look on her face. Squall tried to pay no attention to it and simply kept his gaze on the still water in front of him. But it was too hard. He hated it when she did this. He hated it when she just stared at him and said nothing. What was worse about it was that she was absolutely silent. He hated it when she didn't speak, because for once in his life, silence was deafening whenever Rinoa was around.

"Will you stop doing that?" said Squall, trying not to show any sign of discomfort.

Rinoa didn't say anything and just kept on staring at him with an expressionless look on her face. The expressionless-ness added a frightening effect to her silence.

"Stop it," said Squall, trying to contain himself.

Rinoa didn't say anything.

Squall rolled his eyes. She was playing another childish game with him. Her childishness annoyed him sometimes. In situations like this, he simply ignored her. But he didn't know how long he could last.

"See, that's how it feels, Squall Leonhart," said Rinoa, returning to her normal self.

Squall said nothing.

"Leonhart!" shouted Rinoa.

"_What_?" said Squall, clearly annoyed.

"That's how it feels!" said Rinoa loudly. "When you just sit there and say nothing … _that's _how it feels. It really irritates me, Leonhart. And when you just say 'whatever' and give me this blank look, it peeves me off like crazy! It really isn't necessary, you know. If you don't want to talk to me, then maybe you should just stop coming here every day!"

_Oh brother…_

"I'm just trying to be friendly, Squall," continuedRinoa, "I'm just trying to get to know you more. But all you do is shut me out. It's not going to help."

"I don't want you to know me," murmured Squall.

"Then why is it that you keep coming to meet me here every day?" asked Rinoa, frustrated. "Why don't you just _stop_ coming? Why do you just sit here and listen to me all the time instead of just getting up and leaving? There _must_ be a reason. Because you definitely don't come here everyday just to smell the flowers…"

Squall didn't know what to say. He didn't even know _why _he came there in the first place. But what was he supposed to say to her? He can't just say 'Yeah, I came here because I wanted to get to know you'. It would just destroy everything he ever stood for. It was like admitting defeat. It was like admitting he was _wrong_. He hated being wrong, but most importantly, he was _never_ wrong.

Rinoa sighed, exasperated, when Squall didn't say anything. "Whatever," she said sullenly. She huddled her knees to her chest and put her chin on top of her knees. She simply stared out into the lake with a sulky look on her face. She ignored Squall's slightly shocked face gazing upon her and continued to act as if he wasn't there.

_Oh great, now look what you've done, _a voice in Squall's head said. _You've made her upset._

_Well it's not my fault she gets angry over the smallest things…_

_She just wanted to be your friend, stupid. _

_I don't _want _to be her friend, _argued another voice in Squall's head. _I keep telling her that. But she just doesn't get it._

_Then that means she's right. You're the one who keeps coming to _her. _Obviously she's expecting you to be friendly, at least. But you just _have _to be a jerk and use the same sad excuse all the time._

_I have to be a jerk because I _am _a jerk. If I give in, then I'll just end up being the victim. It'll be like history repeating itself. I'm sick of being used. I'm sick of being hurt. I just want to be left alone._

_Then why don't you stop coming to see Rinoa then? If you want to be alone, why do you keep bringing yourself to her?_

_Shut up._

Squall knew his conscience was right. No matter how much he argued with himself, he just couldn't find a good enough reason as to why he was there. And the awkward silence in the air was not making matters any better.

_Don't just _stare_ at her. Say something to make her feel better._

_Stupid conscience…_

"Fine," mumbled Squall, "I'm _sorry. _Is that what you wanted to hear?"

_Yeah, smooth move, Leonhart._

Rinoa perked up and gave Squall a look of disgust. Then she rested her chin on her knees and hugged herself again, back in her sulky state of being.

Squall sighed. _I bet she's doing this just to patronise me… _He wondered whether he should've just gone home without saying anything. _No … I don't want to go home… _So what was he supposed to say?

"Whatever," he said. He wasn't going to redeem himself. There wasn't any point. Instead, he got up and began walking away from her. He could feel Rinoa's eyes staring after him in surprise, but he didn't care. She shouldn't have been surprised. She told him to leave so he might as well have left.

_She never told you to leave, _said that voice in Squall's head.

_I don't care._

Squall just wanted to stop thinking about her. Why was he thinking about her in the first place? He was stupid to have gone down to the lake that day, knowing that she would be there. He was stupid to have gone down to the lake _any _day. He didn't know why. Maybe it was because of that dream he had the other day of her kissing him. It hadn't come to mind since then, but now that he thought of it, he began to see Rinoa in a different way. And it was just a little bit frightening...

* * *

Rinoa sat there, her temper slowly rising. That Squall Leonhartwasso … _impossible. _She wondered how anyone could behave like that. She wondered how anyone could sleep at night,knowing that they've hurt so many people for reasons unknown. She wondered if there was such a creature alive that was as hostile as him, _so _hostile that it hurt. All she wanted was for him to talk to her, to act as if he actually_ cared_. And even if he didn't care, it didn't explain why he always 'accidentally' ran into her every morning. 

She sighed. Being stubborn and childish about it wasn't going to help. She couldn't stay angry with him forever, because that would only make him even more hostile towards her. But she didn't like admitting she was wrong. She hated being wrong. And she _wasn't _wrong this time, she was _right_. But … she guessed that it was necessary to solve things with Squall if she expected him to open up to her.

Rinoa stood up on her feet. "Squall!" she called out.

But there was no response. Squall was out of sight and probably far away by then. Rinoa wondered where he could've gone. He can't have gone home, because she knew that he wouldn't do that unless absolutely necessary. But there wasn't much else he could've done. He didn't know his way around yet.

_Maybe he's in town_, she thought.

Rinoa thought that would be the most logical thing, and decided to go after Squall into Timber. As much as she hated chasing after a guy and admitting she was wrong, she knew thatSquall was probably the best friend she could ever have. He was the only person who didn't judge her because of her health condition … he was the only person who didn't pity her…

_He doesn't _know _about my condition,_ thought Rinoa earnestly. _But … I suppose he'll know soon enough. And I can only hope that he won't feel differently about me._

Rinoa walked at a somewhat quick pace into town. As soon as she reached Timber, she wondered where Squall would've gone. There wasn't much to choose from – it was a pretty small place. She scanned the area she was in at that moment, and fortunately, she spotted the forlorn young man at once. Funnily enough, he was sitting at a table at the café she worked in.

When Squall spotted her, and their eyes met for a split second, she shook her head with a sad smile and walked over to him. She was half expecting him to just get up and walk away, but he didn't. He stayed stationed at his place and acted as if he hadn't seen her.

"Strange place to hide in, don't you think?" said Rinoa light-heartedly, sitting herself in the chair opposite to Squall.

Squall said nothing and inattentively stirred his coffee, the metal spoon making a jingly _ching-ching_ sound as he did so. Rinoa tried not to let her frustration show on her face. She was angry because he was silent in the first place, the least he could've done was to say something now. But she didn't want to be angry ... she had to apologise to get things working again. Even if she didn't want to apologise, even if she didn't _really_ do anything wrong, she just wanted everything to be better again ... even if that meant apologising.

"Squall," she said softly. "I'm sorry."

Squall looked up at her, a slight but clear expression of surprise on his face. "For what?" he asked.

"For being such a childish, stubborn … _thing_," said Rinoa, lost for words. "I know I shouldn't have gone off at you like that. But, it's just … sometimes, I feel like I'm talking to myself whenever I'm with you. I just want to know that you actually _care_ about the words that come out of my mouth."

Squall was carefully contemplating on what he should have said next. He was very tempted to say 'I _don't _care about the words that come out of your mouth' but that wouldn't make any sense. Whether he liked it or not, if he said anything that was Squall-like, then it would hurt Rinoa. And somehow …hurting Rinoadid not seem at all tempting.

"I…" His gaze shifted around the place uncomfortably, and he was still stirring his coffee absentmindedly. "No … I guess I do care about what you say. I just don't have anything to say in return."

Rinoa smiled weakly. "I think that coffee has been stirred enough."

Squall stopped stirring.

"Yeah, I understand that, I suppose," continued Rinoa. "But it's more than that, isn't it? You don't want to say anything because you want to give off this impression that you're cold and hard and you don't want to be disturbed. But it's too late for that, Squall, because I _know _you're not really like that. So you don't have to act like that … you can just be yourself. I don't care if you seem like a fool or you think it's going to hurt your pride, because if you be yourself, then that proves to me that you _are _strong. And brave. And all of that other stuff you wish you were."

A cheeky grin appeared on her face for a second, but she quickly wiped it off when Squall glared at her warningly.

"It's not as easy as you say it is," mumbled Squall. "How can I trust you? I can't."

"Then how come you trusted your sister?" said Rinoa. "Or that girl that was like your sister. You let her in, didn't you? Why can't you do the same with me?"

"Because she ended up leaving," murmured Squall.

"Well, technically, _you_ left _her_," said Rinoa. "And if you're afraid of me leaving you, then you don't have to worry about that. Because I'm not going anywhere. I don't have anywhere to go. And that's a promise, Squall Leonhart."

"You shouldn't make promises you can't keep," said Squall.

"You're really mean, did you know that?" Rinoa slightly frowned. "You don't trust me? Okay, I pinky promise." She held out her little finger on the table. "I pinky promise that I won't leave you, if you promise to open up to me."

Squall stared at the finger she had out, wondering what she was playing at. "What?"

"Pinky promise!" said Rinoa. "It means I won't break it. If you want proof, I pinky promised my mom that I would keep her wedding ring safe no matter what. And see, it's still here! So, pinky promise!"

Squall couldn't believe what Rinoa was saying to him. Her patience with him was astounding. Any _normal_ person would have just given upon him by now. "You're crazy."

"Excuse me," said Rinoa defensively, "but this is not crazy. Unless you're _afraid _that I'll break my promise because you don't believe me. But trust me mister, I don't break my promises. If anything, it'll probably be _you _who breaks your promise."

"I'm not a liar."

"Then c'mon, what are you waiting for?" demanded Rinoa, her pinky still out on the table.

"All right, fine!" said Squall, annoyed. "If it'll get you to shut up…"

Rinoa grinned. "Okay, go on."

"What?"

"You're supposed to link your pinky with mine, silly," said Rinoa. "That's the whole _point_ of this exercise."

Squall rolled his eyes. _Here she goes again with her childishness._ But he extended his gloved hand out anyway and linked his little finger with Rinoa's, and at that moment, he felt like the biggest loser. Amazingly, he didn't hate this feeling. Maybe it wasn't a loser-ish feeling ... perhaps it was that light-hearted feeling of being a child again ... of being an innocent, happy person without a care in the world. But that fleeting feeling was gone the instant Rinoa withdrew her hand from his.

"All right, good," said Rinoa, satisfied. "Now. Are you looking forward to school? We go in three weeks."

Squall shrugged.

"Uh-uh, your promise, remember?" said Rinoa, clicking her tongue. "Wow, it's been two seconds and you've managed to break your promise already. You're worse than I thought."

"Hey, that doesn't count," said Squall defensively.

Rinoa giggled. "Fine then, I'll forget about that then. So, are you looking forward to school?"

"I … guess," mumbled Squall. _I really hate this … what was I thinking, making a dumb promise like that? _

"That wasn't so bad, was it? Now, next question."

"No … please don't," said Squall feebly.

Rinoa laughed. "Oh, you're so cute."

"…Whatever," said Squall, but he couldn't help but slightly flush.

"Hyne, you really need to learn how to deal with stuff like this," said Rinoa, shaking her head. "When a girl says you're cute, you don't say 'whatever'. But that lesson can wait for another day, I guess."

Squall felt like eating a cactus. This was truly demeaning. He was about to come up with a comeback, but another voice interrupted him.

"Is that _you, _Heartilly?" said a lashing female voice.

Rinoa jumped at the sound of another voice and turned to look for its owner. Her heart flopped when she saw a girl her age, with wavy, waist-length amber hair and a nice tan that was suspiciously fake. She had luscious, large lips, which was coated in about twenty layers of shining lip-gloss. She was rather tall, but perhaps it was because she was wearing high shoes. The girl was wearing a leather black skirt that was short enough to be a belt, and a white halter-neck top, exposing her slender figure and slightly large bust. She pulled up her designer sunglasses, revealing her electric-blue eyes. Her eyes were probably the most striking thing about her appearance … they were probably even more piercing than Squall's eyes, if that was possible.

"Yes, it _is_ me," said Rinoa bluntly. "I'm wondering what you're doing here, Ferris?"

"Why, can't I walk around Timber now?" asked Ferris. "I live here _too, _you know."

"Yeah, whatever," said Rinoa, rolling her eyes. "How come you're here alone? Where are your little cronies?"

"It's none of your business, Heartilly," said Ferris sharply. "But I'm wondering why you're _not _alone. I didn't know anybody would want to hang out with a _freak._" She put great emphasis on the word 'freak', saying it as if it were two syllables instead of one.

"Go shove a cock in your mouth, Ferris," said Rinoa harshly.

Squall recoiled in discomfort. It seemed that Rinoa had forgotten that he was still there, and he was somewhat glad about it, too. He had never seen this side of Rinoa before, and it was kind of … disturbing. He always thought of Rinoa as a nice, peaceful girl. He didn't actually think she was stubborn in this way. He didn't know what to make of it. Maybe she wasn't all what he had expected.

"Oh, feisty," said Ferris, a heinous-like smirk appearing on her face. "Well … hope to see you at school. Let's hope you can make it, huh?"

"Oh don't worry, I will," said Rinoa, an equally smug smile flickering on her lips.

"And bring your _friend_ too," purred Ferris, eyeing Squall seductively. She winked at him and strutted away, her high heels making a clicking noise on the pavement as she went.

Rinoa rolled her eyes and turned back to Squall, a slight look of amusement on his face.

"Who was that?" asked Squall, trying not to show any sign of interest.

"Oh … don't worry about her," said Rinoa. "_That _was Ashleigh Ferris. She goes to my school. Well, _our_ school."

"And I assume you dislike her?" said Squall.

"_Dislike _her?" exclaimed Rinoa. "_Far _beyond _dislike_, Squall. She's just so … urgh."

"Why?"

"I don't know," said Rinoa, drifting off a little. "Ashleigh … she's so _two-faced. _Sometimes she can be really nice, I'll tell you that. In fact, we can get along if we tried. But sometimes she's just a big _bitch_, for reasons unknown. I mean, one second she's saying 'Hey Rinoa, you want some help with that?' and the next second she'll turn around and just call you a freak."

"I guess some girls are like that," murmured Squall.

For the first time, Rinoa wasn't paying attention to what Squall was saying and continued to rant on. "I mean, I think she feels sorry for me so she acts all nice and stuff. But then when she _doesn't_ feel sorry for me, she'll just treat me as if I was just like everyone else. And frankly, I'd prefer that she treat me like I was like everyone else because then I'll _know_ I can't _trust _her."

Squall thought she was referring to the fact that her mothered died when Rinoa said 'she feels sorry for me', but in fact she was referring to her condition. But obviously, she didn't say that.

"I mean, have you ever met someone like that?" said Rinoa, still passionately ranting on about Ashleigh. "You think they're all nice, but in fact, they're not?"

"Yeah, I have actually," said Squall, nodding.

"Really? Who?"

"She's sitting right in front of me," said Squall plainly.

Rinoa stared at him in horror. It probably took her another five seconds to actually process what Squall had just said to her. This was mainly for two reasons: she didn't think Squall would say something like that, and the thought of her being like a girl she despised so much was absolutely shocking.

"I am _not _like Ashleigh!" cried Rinoa, taken aback. "That's _insulting_!"

Squall couldn't help but laugh.

"No, _no, _don't _laugh_!" cried Rinoa. "Why is it that you laugh at the most inappropriate things? You're supposed to laugh _with _me, not _at _me!"

Squall let another snigger escape his mouth. He collected himself, and tried to keep a straight face again. "No … it's true. I don't know … I thought of you as a sweet girl. Until you said … what was it? 'Go shove a cock in your mouth'…?"

"You thought I was sweet?" said Rinoa, her eyes lighting up.

"That's not the point," mumbled Squall. He couldn't believe he just said something like that aloud. "You're just what you said … someone you thought was nice, but in fact, they're not."

"Is that … bad?" asked Rinoa, looking sulky.

Squall shrugged. "You tell me."

Rinoa looked like she wanted to kick herself. She hated being compared to Ashleigh like that. In fact, she never thought of it in that way until Squall mentioned it to her.

"But I'm only nasty to her because she's nasty to me," said Rinoa, not wanting to admit she was wrong. "She brings it upon herself! If she's nice to me, then I'll be nice to her. If she's bitchy to me, then I'll be bitchy back. So it's up to her on how I act. I wait for _her _to approach _me._"

Squall shrugged his shoulders. He didn't know how to act towards these girly matters, and frankly, he didn't want to meddle with these matters any further. He had to admit … he was quite the same as Rinoa. He never acted on his own accord – he always waited for others to approach him and start him. The only difference between the way Squall and Rinoa behaved was the fact that Squall always acted the same – a cold, heartless bastard.

"Oh, you ruined it, Squall," said Rinoa, shaking her head disappointedly. "You were actually being very good today in keeping your promise until you just had to shrug your shoulders like that!"

"…Whatever."

"Your promise, Squall!" reminded Rinoa.

"Nothing in that promise of yours said that I wasn't allowed to say 'whatever'", said Squall.

"Okay, okay," said Rinoa, "you can keep that damn word. Just don't say it _too_ much."

"Only if you stop talking about Ashleigh," said Squall.

"Why?" asked Rinoa suspiciously.

"Because I'll get jealous."

Rinoa's eyes widened in utter shock and wondered if she heard Squall wrongly. It was definitely uncalled for, not to mention _extremely_ strange.

"Relax, Rinoa, I'm just messing with you. You really should learn how to take a joke," said Squall coolly.

Rinoa let out an outraged gasp, her mouth wide open with absolute astonishment. She couldn't believe Squall actually made such a wisecrack joke like that. And what's more, he recycled _her _line that she used against him a couple of days ago and was now using it against her! This was very un-Squall-like behaviour, but Rinoa had to admit that she loved it. _Maybe_ she was actually getting to him. _Maybe_ he was actually opening up to her on her account…

And Squall cracked a smirk, shaking his head at Rinoa's naivety, and started to drink his over-stirred coffee that was turning cold. He wondered why he was acting this way. But it wasn't as bad as he thought. Though, he still believed that one day Rinoa would leave. One of his mottos in life was 'nothing lasts forever'. But maybe something didn't need to last forever for him to appreciate it.

_Maybe._

* * *

**A/N:**Ah ... the return of Ashleigh. But don't worry; she won't have a very big role as she did in Lost Memories. She's not going to be a focus character in the story; she'll probably just appear a couple of times. Besides, I'm sure most of you are probably sick of her :-P Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I'm trying to make these first couple of chapters of relationship-building as interesting as possible before I bring in the_ real _complication of the story. I hope I'm not rushing things, I just really want to get into it...oh and thanks for reading, it means a lot to me :-) 


	6. Broken Life

**A/N:** Hehe ... thanks for the reviews, everyone. I know you guys like it when I update quickly, so here is the update :) I loved the reaction to Ashleigh btw hehe ... but like I said, she'll be a bit the same, but just won't have a major part. Not yet anyway :P And Ashleigh's last name is Ferris in this fic, that's why I called her Ferris in the last chapter. Anywho, here is the new chapter...

**Flying with Broken Wings**

**Chapter 6 – Broken Life**

More days went by and school was inching closer. Squall began to see Rinoa more frequently and was slowly, but surely, opening up to her. Whenever he was silent or didn't bother answering Rinoa, she would always bring up the fact that he was breaking his promise. Funnily enough, he hated the thought of breaking this promise to her and ended up speaking to her, even though his answers weren't always what she expected.

Caraway was becoming less aware of Rinoa going out to meet Squall, as he had finally gotten a job. This meant that he was home less often, and Rinoa seized this opportunity to get out of the house. This also meant that Rinoa didn't have to work at the café anymore, so she resigned before her two-week break was over.

There was only a week left until school began. Rinoa was feeling sulky at the thought of having to return to Timber High because of all the people there. She was so glad that it was her last year of school, but was wondering what she should have done afterwards.

"What do you want to do when you get out of school?" Rinoa asked Squall one afternoon.

The two of them were sitting at the lake, alone, once again. Obel Lake became their little place where nobody went. They enjoyed the peacefulness and both were glad that there weren't a lot of people around for their own reasons. The day was patchy grey, with a cool wind blowing in the air. The sky was stained with dark clouds of threatening rain, and as if the birds could sense a storm coming, they all fled in fear.

Squall shrugged. "Haven't decided."

"Oh come on, you must have _some _idea," said Rinoa.

Squall thought about it for a moment. "I guess … I'd like to be in the army." He didn't mention that Laguna was president of the national army, because he didn't feel it was necessary. As much as he hated to admit it, Squall really admired his father's work.

Rinoa smiled. "That wasn't so hard, was it?"

Squall shrugged his shoulders.

"So … why the army?" asked Rinoa. "You like killing things, don't you?"

"Something like that," murmured Squall.

"Is that how you got that scar?" asked Rinoa curiously.

"I guess," replied Squall wearily. "I had a fight with this guy…"

"Oh, really?"

Squall nodded patiently. By now, he was used to Rinoa's constant questions. "Yeah. He had gunblade expertise, just like me. We got into a fight and we both ended up with these massive scars on our faces…"

"Wow," said Rinoa in awe. "You can use a gunblade? That's really cool…"

Squall shrugged. "I guess it is."

"Are you really good with it?"

"Highest rank," said Squall casually.

"Wow," was all Rinoa could say.

"Yes…" Squall didn't know what else he could've said.

"Aren't you going to ask me what I want to do when I leave school?" said Rinoa.

Squall rolled his eyes. "All right … _what do you want to do when you leave school_?"

Rinoa grinned. "Well, I'm not sure yet, to be honest."

_Here we go … she'll be yapping on for hours_, thought Squall. _Better get comfortable…_

"…I mean, I've considered a lot of things," she continued. "But I suppose I've always wanted to be an astronomer, because I love stars. I'm so fascinated by them. But you know what I really want to do? I really want to be a doctor. A specialist, if you will."

Squall nodded.

"I guess … I want to help people," said Rinoa dreamily. "I want to save lives, and I want to find cures for things that don't have cures." She stopped midway, as if contemplating on whether to say something or not. "Have you ever heard of…?" She paused, decided against saying what she had in mind. "Forget it."

Squall wasn't going to question her any further.

"But yeah … I would like to study medicine and become a doctor," said Rinoa. _So I can find a cure for this stupid Sorceress Plague…_

The thing that Rinoa wanted to say before she stopped herself was whether or not Squall had heard of the health condition she had. She didn't know why she stopped herself. Maybe she was just afraid of him finding out what was wrong with her, and she was definitely afraid of how he would react to it. But she had to tell him before school started, or else people from school would tell him since everyone knew about her anyway. And she wanted to tell him herself rather than him finding out from someone like Ashleigh…

"I see," said Squall, when Rinoa didn't say anything else.

Rinoa snapped out of her train of thoughts and smiled sweetly. She couldn't help but think about Ashleigh. "Squall…"

"Hmm?"

"Would you … would you ever think differently of me as soon as we get to school?" asked Rinoa uneasily, thinking back to Ashleigh's attitude towards her.

"What?"

Rinoa blushed a little. "It's just …I'm not really _liked_ at school."

"Uh … so?" said Squall, not knowing why Rinoa was talking like this. _I should be the last person she says this to. After all, I'm not really liked _anywhere

Rinoa smiled weakly. "Never mind."

Squall didn't know what to say, but he somehow felt that he should have comforted Rinoa somehow. But how was he supposed to do that? He wasn't good at that type of thing. He wasn't exactly sure what Rinoa meant when she said that she wasn't really liked at school, but the thing that bothered him was that she took something like that to heart. It certainly didn't influence the way she behaved – in fact; she acted like a 'normal' person. But Rinoa wasn't like everyone else … not to Squall. And maybe whatever was making her 'disliked' was what Squall liked about her.

_No … I don't like her. I mean, I _like _her, but just as a friend. Oh great, now I just admitted she's my friend._

But somehow, he didn't feel so ashamed to call Rinoa his friend. He actually felt quite … happy.

Thunder rumbled in the sky. The visible storm clouds were moving towards the Timber area. At that moment, it began to drizzle. Neither party seemed to mind, so they stayed stationed in their position. Rinoa felt the cool water against her skin quite refreshing, a nice change from the usual summer heat.

"What makes you think I won't like you just because you say nobody else does?" said Squall.

Rinoa laughed weakly. "I can't believe you just said that. But … I guess you're right. Argh, what was I thinking? You're not like 'everybody else' at all!" She laughed pathetically again.

_And neither are you_, Squall wanted to say.

Rinoa sighed. She really wanted to tell him about it ... but something held her back. She couldn't bring herself to do it. "I wish I could tell you my story, Squall. But … it's so broken. I've lost all the pieces."

"My story is broken too," murmured Squall.

She smiled a small smile. "Let's fix them together. I feel like I've known you forever … I think I can help you, if you help me. I just have the feeling that there's something set up for us together, as if there's so much lying ahead of us. Like … destiny."

_I don't believe in destiny, _thought Squall.

The light drizzle became just a little bit heavier. Rinoa sighed dreamily again, embracing the cool adrenaline. She always loved the rain.

"I said this to you before, but I don't think you believed me then," said Rinoa. "But now that we know each other better, I can say it again. I'll help you put your story back together, Squall. I know I can."

Squall suddenly felt like he'd already had this conversation with Rinoa before. It felt so familiar, as if it had happened before. Then he realised … Rinoa _did _say this before she had her last 'fit'. But this event also happened in his dream. A shiver went down his spine at the thought of a dream coming true. But … it _can't_ come true. In his dream, Rinoa bent over to kiss him … she wouldn't do that in real life … she wouldn't do that _now_…

"Please let me help you," she said softly.

Squall remembered the last time she said this is reality, and he had abruptly pushed her away. In a way, he _still _wanted to push her away. But then again, he didn't. Was it because of that dream he had before? In the dream he said he would let her help him. What would she do if he said yes in reality? But he was almost afraid to say yes … he was so afraid to let someone in. How could he have possibly let anyone this close enough to him to get into a situation like this?

_Just say yes. You know you want to fix this messed up life of yours. You can't just leave yourself to rot. If anyone is going to help you, it might as well be her. You can trust her, can't you? She's stuck by you for this long already and you haven't managed to kick her out of your life yet. She won't leave you. _

He didn't know whether to believe his inner voice or not. He hated that inner voice, but he knew it was always right. Squall tried to find the right words to say to Rinoa, because her innocent brown eyes staring at him made him nervous.

"I…" began Squall. "I … I don't know, Rinoa."

_You idiot! Why did you say _that?

"W-what do you mean?" said Rinoa quietly.

"I just … I don't know how you've managed to get this close to me," admitted Squall. "But … I think it was a mistake. I can't let you in anymore..."

Rinoa bit her bottom lip nervously, as if trying to hold back tears. "M-mistake?"

Squall turned away from her. She had that _look _on her face. He _hated _that look so much. "It's just … you don't need me." He said that instead of 'I don't need you', because it just sounded better. "Why would you want to help me if you didn't need me?"

Rinoa pursed her lips together, and at that moment, a silver tear left her eye. She couldn't believe it. Was this what she thought it was? Was this rejection? But it wasn't as if she was asking him to marry her or anything … all she wanted to do was to help him, to become closer to him. But he was just throwing back at her face, and this time it wasn't in a cold tone, it was in a regretful tone. That hurt her the most, because it meant that he seriously _meant _what he was saying. She thought she would really get through to him, but apparently she hadn't.

Rinoa was tempted to say 'I _do_ need you'. But what did that mean? That she needed him as a friend? That she needed him as a person? That she needed him more than anything? It would demean herself if she said that … so she said nothing.

At that point, the rain was rather heavy. Rinoa began to grow slightly cold, but she took no notice of it. What Squall was saying to her was much colder than the rain. Her hair was immersed in water, her clothes drenched, and the raindrops were mixing with her tears. Lightning struck, followed by another roar of thunder.

Squall tried to avoid eye contact with Rinoa. He was well aware that the girl was crying, and it tore him to bits … but what was he supposed to do?

Rinoa let go of her mind and let her heart speak. "But Squall … I _do_ n-need—"

She stopped midway. _No, not now… _

Her throat felt like sandpaper, her heart throbbing intensely with the cold. Her breathing deepened, as much as she tried to keep it even. She began to tremble uncontrollably, so she clenched her hands into tight fists to try to keep herself stable. But it didn't work. It must have been the piercing cold that made her this way … she was stupid to stay out in the rain…

Rinoa fumbled around and tried to reach into her pocket, but had great difficulty in doing so. Squall's concerned staring was simply a blur to her now, but she tried to concentrate on getting to her retainer. Her breathing was very raspy at that moment … she sounded like she was trying to breathe through sobs, but she definitely was not crying anymore. This pain was physical now.

"Rinoa … are you all right?" asked Squall anxiously.

She acted as if she didn't hear him. Finally, her trembling hands reached her pocket. She let out an audible gasp when she found that there was nothing in her pocket. Why didn't she bring her respirator? She must have thought she wouldn't have an attack any time soon, seeing as how the last time she did was almost two weeks ago…

"Sq-Squall," choked Rinoa weakly. She tried to string more words together, but it was hard to do that and breathe at the same time. She regretted not telling Squall about her condition … if she had told him about it, then he would know what to do…

_This isn't the time for regrets_, thought Rinoa. She squeezed her eyes closed and let out a harsh cough. Another cough followed it, and another, and another. She clutched her chest with her eyes closed tightly, trying to control her breathing. Her heart was beating like crazy. She could feel the blood pounding in her head, and now it felt like the raindrops were piercing at her skin.

"Rinoa!" said Squall, "W-what do you want me to do?"

"B-Breathe…." Rinoa clutched at her abdomen with both hands, her eyes squeezed tightly shut. Her breathing was as raspy as ever. She tried to control everything, but her control of the situation was slowly slipping. She couldn't find her voice, and it felt like she couldn't open her eyes anymore. Slowly, she fell face first onto the wooden quay of the lake, her arms still wrapped tightly around herself.

"No … not this again," murmured Squall.

Squall turned Rinoa around so that her face was up. Her skin was dead pale, her lips icy blue, her breathing going from one extreme to another – before her breathing was deep and loud, now it was shallow and less detectable. The cold wasn't biting at him like it was to Rinoa, so he quickly took off his jacket and wrapped it around the unconscious girl in attempt to get her body temperature back to normal.

He tried to think back to the last time this happened, and remembered that he gave her mouth-to-mouth to revive her. This time, he didn't hesitate to do it, because somehow the situation now seemed much more frightening than it did before. Perhaps it was the heavy rain along with the crashing thunder and lightning that made him nervous.

Squall flipped some wet strands of hair out of his face and pressed his mouth against Rinoa's cold lips, trying to breathe his life into hers. As soon as his lips met hers, he tasted blood, just like in his dream. But he tried not to think about something stupid like that and got on with trying to save Rinoa's life. One breath … two … three … four … five … six breaths, and still nothing. This only began to make him more nervous, because she should have woken up by now like she did last time.

Seven … eight … nine breaths, and still Rinoa showed no response to life. Squall decided to scrap the idea and thought back to what happened last time. He remembered that Rinoa inhaled some contents of a retainer she had in her pocket. He reached into her pocket, but it was empty.

Squall cursed under his breath. What was he supposed to do now? He didn't know what the heck was going on, and what he did last time wasn't working.

_Take her to the hospital._

Squall wasn't entirely satisfied with that idea, because he had no idea where the hospital was. But he couldn't just leave Rinoa to die here in the rain … he had to do _something. _So he picked Rinoa up gently and placed her on his back. He held on tightly to her and began running as if his life depended on it.

He ran in the pouring rain for ten minutes, and found himself in town already. He pushed past all the bystanders impatiently, ignoring their quizzical looks. Squall was drenched to the bone, but ultimately, he wasn't cold in the least way. He suddenly stopped after he ran around for a bit, because he realised that he didn't know where he was going. He still wasn't familiar with the town, seeing as how he hardly ever went into town anyway, and now he cursed himself for it.

Squall swerved into the closest store, still holding onto Rinoa tightly. The store he entered was almost empty, save for the clerk and a certain customer browsing through the clothes at the store.

"Where's the nearest hospital?" demanded Squall.

The clerk stared at Squall, wide-eyed, because he was dripping with water and getting her shop all wet.

"The nearest hospital isn't a public one," said the clerk acidly.

"I don't care, just tell me where it is!" said Squall loudly.

The customer in the store turned around, and to Squall's alarm, it was the redheaded Ashleigh. She looked confused at first, but turned serious almost instantly as soon as she saw Squall holding the unconscious Rinoa.

"Leave the store and turn right," said Ashleigh sincerely, "Keep going and then you'll see the hospital."

Squall didn't know whether to believe her or not, but judging by her serious expression, he decided to take her word for it.

"Did she have a Sorcer—"

"All right, thanks," said Squall quickly, cutting the girl off.

"Relax, she's just doing it to get your attention!" called Ashleigh, but by then, Squall was gone. She groaned and murmured to herself, "All that girl wants is attention."

Squall ran in the direction Ashleigh told him to go, without ever once stopping for a break. At long last, he reached Timber hospital, and bolted past the car park and through the doors as fast as he could. He ran into the white building, where he saw nurses and doctors walking around with patients. He didn't know where to go from here, so he darted towards the reception, leaving a dripping trail of rainwater behind him.

"Hey, Miss, I have an emergency," said Squall breathlessly.

"What's the matter?" asked the receptionist.

"This girl … she just collapsed and it looked like she had a lot of trouble breathing," answered Squall quickly.

"What's her name?"

"Rinoa … Rinoa Heartilly," said Squall, trying to remember Rinoa's last name.

"Rinoa Heartilly," murmured the receptionist, "Oh dear…" She reached over and grabbed the telephone, speedily dialling a number. "Hello? Doctor Odine? Miss Rinoa Heartilly is here on the condition of an emergency. I believe she must have suffered a Plague attack … yes, hurry." The receptionist placed the phone back. "Are you a family member, sir?"

"No, I—"

"Then you'll have to wait here," said the receptionist gravely.

"But—"

At that moment, a couple of nurses and an eccentrically dressed male doctor came rushing towards Squall with a bed on wheels. The strange-looking doctor ran up to Squall, a placid look on her face.

"My name is Doctor Odine, Rinoa's specialist," said the doctor, in a strong accent.

"What?"

The nurses took Rinoa from Squall's back, placed the unconscious girl on the bed, and hooked her up to the drip stand. Squall, slightly dismayed and disorientated, could only fumble back clumsily.

"How did she get in zis condition, do you know?" asked Odine.

"Yes, we were just talking and then she had this … fit," said Squall. "It's happened before, but she woke up after I gave her mouth to mouth…"

"Did it vork zis time?" asked the doctor.

"Obviously not," said Squall, annoyed.

"Do you know about Mizz Heartilly's condition?"

"Condition?" said Squall, confused.

"Never mind…" The doctor turned to his team of nurses. "Take her to ze intensive respiratory ward and put her on ze apparatus there. I will be there shortly."

The nurses nodded and wheeled Rinoa away quickly, whilst the doctor turned to Squall.

"Did she take anything from her inhaler?" asked Odine.

"No, she didn't seem to have it on her," said Squall, as if he knew exactly what the doctor was talking about.

"I see," said Odine. "Does her father know about zis?"

"I … I don't think so," answered Squall.

"You say zis has happened before, but now she does not seem to wake?"

"Yes," said Squall, his worry level rising. This doctor seemed to know exactly what was wrong with Rinoa, and the fact that he sounded uncertain about Rinoa's condition didn't put Squall to ease at all. "Last time … it wasn't raining, and it wasn't as cold."

"I see," said Odine. "What vere you doing prior to her attack?"

"We were just talking," repeated Squall, becoming frustrated. "She seemed fine, but then it looked like she couldn't breathe."

"Are you sure she seemed 'fine'?"

Squall hesitated. He didn't feel it was appropriate to say what he and Rinoa were discussing, because Rinoa wasn't _really _fine. But if it was going to save her life…

"No … she was really upset," said Squall slowly.

"I see. You are family, no?"

Squall hesitated again. "Yeah, I am. I'm her brother." He couldn't believe he just lied like that. Did he really want to see her that badly?

"You shouldn't lie to me. Mizz Heartilly does not have a brother," said Odine. "Please sit in ze waiting room until visiting is appropriate."

Squall nodded reluctantly and prepared himself to sit down. Doctor Odine began to walk away.

"Doctor…"

Odine turned around, wondering what else Squall wanted. "Yes?"

"She'll … she'll be okay, right?" asked Squall.

The doctor smiled a sad smile. "I … cannot be certain."

Squall nodded, feeling like a heavy weight had been placed on his shoulders. He watched Doctor Odine walk away, and slumped into one of the waiting room chairs. The doctor's reply made shivers run down his spine, it made him regret what had happened and worry about what was to come.

What if Rinoa didn't make it? Squall would have become miserable for the rest of his life knowing that the last memory of Rinoa was of her crying because of something he said. He had never made a girl cry before, and frankly, he didn't ever want to make Rinoa cry again. That last haunting look of sorrow on her face before she passed out was going to be stuck in his mind forever…

_This is what happens when I let someone get too close to me_, he thought bitterly. _They end up leaving. Rinoa might die, and if she does, I'll feel cold, alone. Just like usual. I shouldn't have let her in … I should have just pushed her away in the first place. Why did I have to meet her? It's as if someone has something against me … well, whoever you are, are you happy now? You've made my emotions boil and I just hope these emotions will just _die_ already._

"Would you like a towel?" asked the young receptionist, standing before him.

Squall snapped out of his thoughts and looked at the friendly-looking woman. He noticed that a janitor was mopping up the trail of rainwater he left behind when he burst into the emergency room. Squall nodded slowly, standing up and taking the pile of white towels from her.

"Thank you," mumbled Squall, wrapping one of the towels around himself. He ran his fingers through his damp hair and sat back down again, the white towel clinging to his body.

The emergency receptionist walked back to her desk. "Wouldn't you rather go home?" she asked.

Squall looked up at her. "I … I guess I would. But I want to know if Rinoa is all right first."

"It'll be a long wait," she said.

Squall shrugged. _I don't care_, he thought.

The receptionist smiled brightly at him and turned back to her work. Squall sighed again. He tried to forget where he was, but it didn't work. Every second, he couldn't help but worry about Rinoa. If the doctor wasn't sure that she'd be all right … then what hope was there?

'_There's always hope. Even for you, Squall.'_

Those words came from Rinoa … he couldn't help but remember that day she said it. Those words clung to his mind. Those words gave him hope. Those words _were _his hope.

An hour passed … two hours… Still, there was no word about Rinoa's condition. Squall was completely dry by then, and he couldn't keep still. He paced around nervously, until he felt weary and decided to sit down again, and then he'd end up standing up again and pacing around. The young receptionist glanced at him every once in a while with wonder in her eyes, but she said nothing and let Squall be.

Squall looked at the clock on the wall, which read six pm. He wondered how much longer it was going to be until he heard news of Rinoa, and whether or not he should've stayed put at the hospital until he found out how she was. In the end, he decided to stay, because he honestly had nothing better to do…

Another hour went by … and another … the time was going by slowly and Squall was beginning to get restless. His worry for Rinoa slowly began to decrease as time went by, simply because he was growing weary. He let his eyelids droop for a moment, letting his guard down as well…

"…Has her father arrived yet?"

Squall perked up instantly, and couldn't believe that he dozed off for a while. He looked around, and saw Doctor Odine speaking to the receptionist at the desk.

"No, I don't think he's gotten the message," answered the receptionist.

Squall took off the towels and placed them on the chair beside him, stood up and walked over to the doctor, showing no sign of emotion whatsoever. "How is she?" he asked.

Odine turned around to face him, an unreadable expression on his face. "You are still here?"

"Yes … how is she?" Squall asked again.

"She iz in a coma," replied the doctor. "We have done all we can … now we have to wait and see what happens."

"May I see her?" asked Squall uneasily.

Doctor Odine smiled serenely. "Yes, of course you may. Follow me."

Squall followed the doctor down hallways and past empty rooms, until they reached a room with a small tag on the door reading 'Rinoa Heartilly'. Odine pushed the door open, and Squall apprehensively walked into the room. The place was bright with light, and the curtains on the window were pulled back, revealing the obscure storm outside. The room was small and a little empty, only holding a couple of chairs, some medical apparatus and a single bed.

The teenager hesitantly walked closer to the bed to find Rinoa, deep in slumber, with the blankets pulled over her. Her eyes were closed gently, her face carrying an expression of simple neutrality. She was hooked up to some complicated-looking machines, which made quiet humming noises under a loud beeping sound to indicate her life support. An oxygen mask was around her nose and mouth, making her appearance look more frightening than it really was.

"I will be open with you," said Odine, "I do not know if she will wake up from zat coma or not. She has not had a fit for a while, and zis one was a fatal blow to her system. If she had her inhaler with her, zen ze situation might be different. But oh well, what can you do?"

Squall nodded, but he still had no clue what the doctor was going on about.

"Will you be staying the night?" asked Odine glowingly.

Squall hesitated. "I … guess I will be."

"Very well," said Odine, "Zat couch opens up to be a sofa. I will getze nurse to bring in some blankets for you."

"Uh … all right," said Squall, shrugging.

"I will be checking up on her later," said Odine, and with that, he left the ward.

Squall sighed, and sat in the chair next to Rinoa's bed. All that was heard was the droning of the machines. He stared down at the girl, her sleeping face so innocent yet worrisome at the same time. The very sight of her in this condition sent chills up and down Squall's spine. What was this feeling? Why was he so worried about her all of a sudden? Just before, he tried to shut her out of her life and admitted that he didn't want her to get closer to him … and now, he somewhat regretted saying that. It was as if he very much _wanted _to let her in. It was as if he should have let her in when he had the chance…

And what if she didn't make it? What if she died? The very thought of that made Squall uneasy. It made his stomach churn and his heart flop. All he wanted was for Rinoa to wake up. He wanted her to spring to life, to see her cheerful smiling beaming at him, to hear her voice again, to smell her sweet scent of strawberry cologne…

Maybe he didn't want to admit it, but all of those things he thought hated about Rinoa were the ones he ended up missing the most. He never thought he would want to see her to 'yell' at him, to ask him dumb questions, to crack stupid jokes, to make his heart skip beats whenever she touched him…

Squall quickly shook these thoughts out of his head. He hated feeling these feelings. But there was nothing he could do to get rid of them … Rinoa's entrance into his life was something he could not forget, it was something he could not neglect any longer, it was something tattooed into his memory forever, and the thought of having to deal with the loss of something so influential seemed so close and so bitter…

"Rinoa … please wake up," murmured Squall.

Why was he speaking to someone who couldn't hear him anyway? This wasn't like him … but he couldn't help it … there was a crazy whirl of emotions inside of that he just had no control over anymore … fear, sadness, care, worry… Squall knelt down on the floor, beside Rinoa's bed. As if against his own will, his gloved hand went up to reach Rinoa's. It was delicate and cold … he couldn't control the trembling rage inside of him … he held onto Rinoa's hand ever so tightly, as if she would slip away if he were to let go…

"Rinoa," said Squall, a little louder, "I … I hate to see you like this. I hate to think that you won't make it…"

_What's happening to me? This feeling … it's so strange, yet so familiar. It's the same feeling I had when mom died. She was lying in a bed like this, just like Rinoa; lifeless and cold … I had all this hope that mom would still be alive. It's the same hope I have now … but that hope was in vain. I don't want this hope to be in vain. Rinoa was right. Even if I've only known her for a couple of weeks now … it feels like I've known her forever. Maybe it's because she's one of the only people who make me feel this way, who make me feel like there is something worth hoping for…_

Squall closed his eyes, trying to hold it all inside. He just wanted to scream, to cry, to hurt someone and make them feel the hurt he was feeling. It was like history was repeating itself. He knew he got colder every time he lost someone dear to him, and that had happened to him three times. He thought he couldn't get any worse … but what was to happen if he lost Rinoa too?

"Please Rinoa," said Squall urgently, his voice trembling slightly. He kept his eyes closed and his hand clasped tightly around Rinoa's hand. "_Please wake up. _I want to hear your voice. I want to see you smiling again…"

The silence that he was met with made him want to break down.

"Rinoa … wake up … call my name again," said Squall quietly.

Squall opened his eyes, and the sight of Rinoa, so dead-like and motionless, made him cry out softly. He dropped his head onto the bed, still grasping on Rinoa's cold hand, and simply tried to blur out all his surroundings. He hated this feeling so much. He couldn't help but question his existence. He didn't know what to do, or say, or think.

_Why? Why is it all on me…?_

Perhaps this is what it felt like when they say 'you don't know what you've got until it's gone'. All this time, Squall had been neglecting Rinoa's presence in his life. He never thought of her as anyone significant. He thought he could carry on without her. But now … seeing her in a state like this put things into perspective. The thought of losing her was a real blow to him. And it's only now, when Rinoa is on her deathbed, that he realises that she isn't just _anyone_. It's only now that he realises that Rinoa had a bigger impact on his life than he thought.

It's only now that he realises that he really does _care _about her…

* * *

**A/N:** Hope you enjoyed this chapter :) Parts of the last scene was kind of taken from the actual game itself, because I loved that scene so much :D Anyway ... if I don't update beforethen, merry Christmas everyone and have a nice new year!


	7. Broken Daylight

**A/N: **Happy new year, everyone! Thank you for your reviews from last chapter. Well, except for some certain 'reviewers'. I see I've been getting a bit of flame for both my fics. I must admit that I am a little saddened that people hate my work so much ... but I suppose everyone is entitled to their own opinion. However, I'm not going to let these certain opinions get in the way of my writing, so sorry to disappoint you flamers but I'm still continuing my fic-writing no matter what you say :-) Anyway, as for those who actually care about what I write, I hope you enjoy this chapter...

**Flying with Broken Wings**

**Chapter 7 – Broken Daylight**

It was well into the night, and the storm outside hardly cleared at all. In the private hospital room, the lights were dim and the room was quiet. The only audible noises were the droning of medical machinery and the pattering rain outside. In the hospital bed laid Rinoa in a hospital gown, deep in a coma. Beside her sat Squall on the floor, his head resting against the soft bed sheets, his gloved hand grasping onto the unconscious girl's hand. He had fallen asleep shortly after quietly mourning for Rinoa. He was tired with fatigue and fear and sadness that he let his mind slip into a deep slumber, not caring that he was sprawled over the floor in an uncomfortable-looking position.

The air seemed dense; the atmosphere almost haunting. Nobody knew if the dark-haired teenager would make it or not … the very question of it plagued everyone's minds, especially Squall's. However, he was presently unaware of anything. Subconsciously, he knew that he was near Rinoa. That thought was comforting, at least. It felt like he was protecting her, from dangers still unknown to him. He unknowingly fell asleep, but sleep seemed to be the only calming thing he could do.

He couldn't wake Rinoa up, he couldn't reassure her, he couldn't speak to her … there was nothing he _could_ do, besides stay by her side until the end. It was the _least _he could do. Even though in reality, this wasn't his fault, but somehow he felt he failed her. Perhaps he knew what Rinoa meant about friendship now…

As the two teenagers slept, both oblivious to their surroundings, Doctor Odine occasionally stepped in and out of the ward to check up on his patient. He entered and left silently, making sure that he did not disturb Squall. Somehow, the doctor felt warm inside when he saw the strange devotion and attachment that Squall had to the girl. Somehow he felt that this young man was all Rinoa had. Caraway was still not aware of his daughter's condition, and Squall seemed to be the only person in Rinoa's life who appeared to be physically _there _for her.

The room was still yet again. It was one o'clock in the morning, and there was no response from either of the teenagers. Somewhere, in their own little world, they were thinking about each other…

_Where am I…?_

_All she could see was blackness, blackness, and more blackness. It felt like she was paralysed with fright, because she couldn't move a single muscle. Maybe her eyes were closed, and that's why she couldn't see anything._

_Am I … alive?_

_She tried to move, but her body refused to obey her. She tried to open her eyes, but it was as if they were glued shut. She felt so light-headed and weak … as if half of her was on the real world, and the other half was stuck here. _

_Squall … did you save me?_

_A quick flash of Squall's face jolted into her mind and disappeared straight away. The image made her feel cold and even more scared than she already was. But it was the first thing she'd seen since … a long time. In fact, it felt like she had been blind all her life and Squall was the first thing she had seen. And she needn't be sighted to know what Squall was like … she just _knew_. Maybe if she kept on thinking about things, then her life would come back into perspective and she would be able to wake up from this slumber…_

_Mom … am I dead?_

_Julia's beaming face flashed into her mind and disappeared instantly, like Squall's. She was getting somewhere … all she needed to do was get her mind pumping again…_

_Dad … are you there?_

_And again, her father was in her mind. The light-headedness and weakness was slowlybeginning to disappear… _

_Am I at home?_

_What day is it, anyway?_

_What's my name again…?_

_I wonder why I'm here…_

_The hospital … am I at the hospital?_

_She suddenly remembered who she was, and she was sure that she was in this place because she passed out from a Sorceress Attack. When she thought she was at the hospital, she tried to visualise her special room in the respiratory ward and tried to keep it implanted in her mind so it wouldn't disappear so quickly like the other images…_

_And suddenly, she could feel her muscles again. Everything was still too dark to see, so she forced her eyes to open…_

The dim light of the room fell into her eyes, and the light was almost blinding. Rinoa's eyelids slowly opened. Her vision was hazy at first, but her eyes focused and adjusted to the room. She didn't want to move too quickly, so her eyes danced around the room to take in her surroundings.

She was right. She was in the hospital. An oxygen mask was over her nose and mouth, but she didn't care. Breathing felt like a whole new sensation to her. Her upper body felt delicate and fragile. The rest of her senses slowly returned to her, and the first thing she noticed was touch. Someone was holding her hand, and the sensation made her feel very easy and light.

Her eyes darted down to her hand, and it took her a good five seconds to process that Squall was there, his gloved hand around hers, his head resting by her side. The realisation made her feel strong again…

"Squall," she murmured. She wondered if she was dreaming. _It must be a dream. Squall is holding my hand and sleeping by my side. He would never do that… _The thought itself was absurd.

She decided that it was a dream and tried to wake up. She closed her eyes again and left them closed for a while, and then opened them up. She found herself in the same place and in the same position, and Squall was still holding her hand.

Squall stirred a little. "Rinoa," he mumbled drowsily. He was obviously still asleep. Maybe he was having a dream about her?

The thought of Squall dreaming of her made Rinoa's heart speed up. She sat upright and felt the energy rush back into her body, fear and worry taking its toll on her again. She came to her senses and it hit her that she was in a coma because of her attack. She tried to grasp Squall's hand back tightly, and slightly shook him in attempt to wake him up.

Squall stirred again. He was indeed a heavy sleeper when he wanted to be.

Rinoa pulled off the oxygen mask with all her might, finding that her arm felt like there were no bones in it. "Squall!" she cried, though her voice was still a bit raspy.

It appeared that Squall was waking up. It looked like he forgot where he was, until he was fully awake. He bolted upright and stood up, quickly letting go of Rinoa's hand. He stared at her profoundly, his face full of surprise and relief at the same time.

"R-Rinoa, you're awake?" he stammered. Squall collected himself and sat on the bed next to Rinoa, still unable to wipe thatamazed look off his face.

Rinoa nodded, and suddenly, she let herself fall onto Squall. He caught her with both arms, and assumed that she was still very weak from her coma. Surprisingly, she began to cry softly. Squall didn't know what to do. He would have thought that Rinoa would be happy that she was alive, but why was she crying? He really hated it when she cried. At first, he wanted to pull away from her, but remembered the last time he did in which it resulted in a horrible feeling placed on his shoulders.

So instead, he awkwardly put her arms around her as an effort to reassure her. Only moments before he felt that he couldn't protect her … now was his chance to do so. Rinoa had been there for him already, now it was his turn to be the supportive one.

Rinoa continued to sob quietly, for reasons Squall still did not understand. Instead, he let her cry into his chest, if that was what would make her feel better. He wasn't good at comforting people, so he decided not to say anything. The fact that he was holding somebody and letting them cry to him was very strange and new to him. However, he did find a soft, content feeling in this gesture of his…

"Are you … okay?" asked Squall, for lack of anything else he could have said. It was a dumb question, because obviously Rinoa was _not _okay. But he really did not know what else to say.

Rinoa let out a muffled sob. "I … I was so scared…"

Squall said nothing at first. After all, this concept of comforting somebody was very new to him. A part of him wondered what he was doing there, another part of him very much wanted to leave, but another bigger part was telling him to stay because he couldn't deny it any longer … he _did _care about Rinoa.

"It's all right now," murmured Squall into her soft hair.

He had never held anybody in this waybefore. Perhaps he did, once upon a time … but he never felt this strange, warmfeeling before. His muscular arms were wrapped around the petite girl, and it was then that he noticed how delicate and fragile she really was. He felt like he was shielding her from all her fears and doubts, from all the woes and plagues of the world … it was a strange feeling, but that was truly what it was.

"I'm so sorry, Squall," she whimpered. "I'm … I'm _so_ sorry…"

"For what?" asked Squall gently.

"I-I should've told you," said Rinoa. "I should've told you from the beginning…"

Squall didn't say anything.

Rinoa pulled away from Squall, avoiding eye contact with him. Squall sat quietly, wondering what she was going to say. He couldn't help but notice the tears clinging to her dainty eyelashes…

"Squall … the reason why I'm here is because I have a health condition," said Rinoa quietly. _This is the moment of truth … let's see if he ends up leaving or getting angry, or something equally as bad…_

Squall remained silent. He didn't quite understand what she meant, and wondered if she was just going to stop there. To his questionable relief, she didn't.

"I have a rare condition called the Sorceress Plague," said Rinoa, looking down at her hands. And so she began her explanation of her health. She started from the beginning on how she got it, and the money her parents were forking out to find a cure. She told him about how it affected her body, and what would happen if she didn't treat it. She told him about her inhaler, and how her friend Min used to help her. She told him about how she hadn't been getting attacks for a while now. And finally, she told him about how people thought she was different and their attitudes towards her – sympathy, fear, and aggressiveness.

By the end of her explanation, she was crying softly again. She didn't know why. Perhaps it was because she was simply afraid to lose someone like Squall, especially after she got another taste in friendship…

Squall, however, was still silent. He was definitely shocked, but somehow, he didn't feel sympathy or hatred or fear about her. Maybe he was a little sympathetic at first, but he snapped himself out of it because he knew what it was like to be sympathised for, and he knew how much he hated it.

He didn't feel scared of her either, because it wasn't as if her condition was contagious or anything. And what was there to be scared of? Squall had faced many things before that were definitely more frightening than some stupid health condition.

And he certainly didn't feel aggressive towards her either, because he really didn't see her as a 'freak' of any sort. This had to be because he saw the _person_ Rinoa was before he saw this. And something like this didn't make him hate her, because it was stupid to hate someone for being different. He knew all about that. She just needed someone to be there for her … and knowing that gave him the strength to _really _protect her.

Rinoa was simply misunderstood … she was misunderstood, just like he was.He felt quite taken aback that she didn't tell him before, because it definitely would have prevented this from happening. But then again, he could understand the very reasons as to why she _didn't _tell him. Of course she wouldn't tell someone she just met about something as serious as a health condition. He knew that saying something that you weren't proud of was very difficult. And knowing Rinoa, she was obviously afraid of how Squall would react to it.

But how _would _have he reacted to it? If she told him on the day they met, or sometime around the time they met, then Squall knew he wouldn't have cared. In fact, he would have just left her alone, not wanting anything to do with her. But things were different now … things were _a lot _different now…

"Rinoa…" said Squall, lost for words. How was he going to express himself? He wasn't good with words. There were so many things he wanted to say to her, but he just didn't know how to say them. "I'm … I'm sorry."

Rinoa looked up at him in wonder, her eyes glassy with tears. This was the first time Squall ever apologised to her for anything, because he was so proud and full of himself. But she didn't know why he was saying sorry … he just saved her life, what could he be sorry about?

"I'm sorry for everything I said," murmured Squall. "When I first met you … I said that you were an attention seeker. But … I didn't know about this … I didn't mean to say something like that…" He regretted every word he said back then. Rinoa was expressing herself and all he did was call her selfish.

He thought back to that day._ '...Nobody could possibly know how it feels to be me'_ was what she said.And he decided to be a jerk and say that she was selfish, and he was ignorant enough to think that his life was worse than hers. Why did he think that? It was as if he was _driving _himself to have a bad life … it was as if he was _trying _to make himself look worse off than everyone else. But learning that someone he knew so well like Rinoa had to live with a life-threatening health condition really put things into perspective for him. It made him realise that he wasn't the _only _person with problems. It made him see that trying to make himself appear to have a bad life was an insult to those worse off than him. And he was damn well ashamed of it.

And what was even more alarming to him was that Rinoa had the heart to agree with him. She agreed with the fact that she was acting childish by complaining about her life. _'You're right. Maybe I shouldn't complain. I mean, I do have it pretty good', _shesaidWhy did she say that? Was it because she wanted to win Squall's respect? To make him shut up? Did it mean she really valued his opinion? He just couldn't believe that he was such a _jerk _to say and think and act the way he did to her. She'd been through more than he had … and unknowingly, he must have destroyed her. He acted like those ignorant people who hated and feared Rinoa because of her condition. And somehow, he didn't want to be one of those people. He didn't want to be like 'everyone else' to her.

"I'm just … I'm just _so_ sorry…"

Rinoa looked up at him, her eyes and nose red with tears. "No … y-you shouldn't be sorry. You d-didn't know, that's all. It's just … you're not just going to leave now and act like you don't know me, a-are you? Because … because … I don't want you to, S-Squall."

Now that he knew that she stood by him for so long, after he must have hurt her so much without knowing it, he was sure that she would never leave him. He was stupid to doubt her. Someone who could withstand his coldness and still have the power to understand him and treat him properly was somebody he shouldn't let go of. It was somebody he _couldn't _let go of. She'd changed him so much over such a short period of time. His life felt like it was repairing itself … he knew he had been hurt a lot in the past, and Rinoa even offered to help him. Little did she know that she was _already_ helping him. And because of this event, he realised that there was no point in moping over how bad his life was … because his life wasn't as bad as he thought…

And now it was his turn to return the favour. He regretted everything he said before this day. He regretted pushing her away and putting her down. He regretted hurting her and rejecting her help. It was time to start anew.

"No … of course I won't leave," murmured Squall. He very much wanted to say all these things on his mind, but he was too much of a coward to do so. He wasn't ready to excrete all these feelings yet … but someday, maybe someday… "I don't feel sorry for you, nor am I afraid of you. And … I certainly don't hate you. All I can say is I _am _sorry for everything … I want to start again. I want to be forgiven…" He sighed. "I'll protect you, Rinoa."

Squall tried not to look directly at her. All of this was very flustering and it took up a good deal of his courage. For a long time, he always thought that he was brave and strong … but he was wrong. He was really coward. He was too afraid to look life in the eye. He was too afraid to deal with his problems. He was too afraid to look forward to the future. He was too afraid of everyone around him, always believing that they'd hurt him in some way or another. But now he knew … now he knew that there was nothing to be afraid of.

A smile slowly appeared across Rinoa's face, and those tears from her eyes were turning into tears of joy. Her heart was soaring. She never expected Squall to stick by her like this, and when he said 'I'll protect you', it simply made her spirits rise through the roof.

She let out another stifled sob entwined with a laugh. The glee in her face was strange, but beautiful. Squall turned back to look at her and as he did so, she dived right for him and threw her arms around him, crying tears of utter happiness. A true friend … someone who would protect her, someone who would let her lean on them – that was Squall. She felt so light weighted, as if jovial light was shining down on a haunting shadow of her past…

Squall, again, was very flustered with Rinoa holding onto him so tightly. She seemed so happy … and somehow, seeing Rinoa happy again made him feel happy too. A small smile formed on his lips. He felt awkward just sitting there, letting Rinoa hug him and cry to him, but he really didn't want to put his arms around her again … he just wasn't used to it.

"Ah, Miss Heartilly iz awake!"

Rinoa quickly pulled away from Squall, blushing slightly, and looked at the eccentric doctor at the door. Squall turned and watched Doctor Odine walk towards the bed, beginning to examine Rinoa carefully.

"How are you feeling, Rinoa?" asked Odine.

"Um … fine," said Rinoa softly, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand.

"You pulled off ze oxygen mask," said Odine, shaking his head disappointedly. "You should not have done zat."

Rinoa flushed. "I … well…"

"Never mind," said Odine. "Rinoa, your father iz here to see you."

"Oh," said Rinoa quietly.

"I'll, um, wait outside," mumbled Squall. He stood up and began to head out the door before anyone could say anything. He paid no attention to the sulky face Rinoa pulled at him as he walked. As he got to the door, he pushed passed Caraway without even looking at the general.

Caraway seemed not to take any notice of the teenager briskly pushing passed him and ran towards his daughter, worry in his face.

"Rinoa! I'm so sorry I couldn't get here earlier," said Caraway. He sat on the hospital bed and threw his arms around Rinoa, as if making sure that she was in one piece.

Rinoa grunted and tried to wriggle free from her father's grip. "It's okay, dad. I just woke up…"

"Are you all right?" asked Caraway, letting go of his daughter. He was very pale with anticipation, and the anxiety in his expression was very obvious.

"I'm fine," answered Rinoa. She wished that Squall hadn't left. "Doctor, when will I be able to leave the hospital?"

"I would juzt like to run a couple more tests," said Odine. "So, maybe another day or two."

Rinoa's heart dropped. Another day or two at the hospital didn't sound fun at all.

"But, while you were in a coma," said Odine, "I have managed to discover zat ze reason for your blackout was in fact emotional."

"…Emotional?"

"Yes," replied Odine, nodding. "For many years, we did not know what triggered ze attacks. However, I have a suspicion zat it is indeed your mind zat initiates zem. Ze last time you were in a coma because of an attack was twelve years ago – approximately ze time when you found out your mother had passed away. Zis was a great blow to your emotional wellbeing, so your mind triggered zis reaction into your body."

Rinoa nodded, not knowing what to make of this. Did this mean that she wasn't allowed to feel any kind of extreme sense of negative emotion anymore? If it did … then she didn't know how she would cope, because she was sure that a lot of bad things would happen to her in the future. Now that she thought of it, all those times she had attack was because she was feeling angry, or sad, or scared … when she was in primary school, she would suffer an attack when she couldn't take the teasing anymore. She would have an attack whenever her father made her angry as well … there were just so many times…

"In zis case, your male companion informed me zat you were very upset prior to your attack," continued Odine. "I suspect zat is why you are here now. And of course, you were out in ze cold storm, which only aroused your body and made it react to the mental stress you were under."

_Squall said I was upset? Wow, so he _does _acknowledge me… _Rinoa couldn't help but focus on the wrong things. Instead of being concerned about her health, she was even more concerned about what Squall thought.

Doctor Odine continued to talk about Rinoa's stability. Caraway was listening intently, however, Rinoa was slowly beginning to drift off. She couldn't stop thinking about Squall's reaction to her revelations. She wasn't expecting it, but in a way, she kind of _did _expect it. She was so happy and grateful … but she didn't know what was going to happen in the future. She was scared for herself, and she was scared for Squall too. Would people distance themselves away from Squall because he befriended Rinoa? If so, then she was uncertain … she didn't want Squall to give up a chance of friendship with other people just for her…

"…Rinoa, are you listening?" said Odine.

The dark-haired girl snapped out of her trail of thoughts, and found that her father and the doctor were both staring at her.

"Um, yeah," she lied, "I just … I just feel a little tired, that's all."

"Ah, zat is expected," said Odine. "We shall leave you to rest."

General Caraway and Doctor Odine left their positions and left the room, closing the door behind them. Rinoa was left alone, and all she could do was sigh. She fell back into her bed and tried to fall asleep again with the booming storm outside and the mixed thoughts and feelings of the past, present and future in her mind…

* * *

"Squall? Where have you been all night?" demanded Laguna, as Squall walked into the house, drenched with rainwater. It was six o'clock in the morning and Squall surprisingly wanted to go home for a change. At first, he was reluctant when he saw his father, but what was the point of turning back? There was nowhere else to go…

"…Sorry," murmured Squall, taking off his wet leather jacket.

Laguna tried to conceal the extremely shocked look on his face, but it was too hard. Squall _actually _apologised for something?

"I didn't mean to worry you," said Squall bluntly. It was a pathetic attempt, but at least it was a start. After realising so much about himself and his selfish attitude towards others, he felt that it was only right to redeem himself.

Laguna was dumbfounded. "Uh … it's all right, son. Say, why don't you get into some dry clothes and have a coffee or something?" He was expecting his son to refuse, but to his astonishment, Squall nodded in agreement.

The teenager walked upstairs to his bedroom. He had to admit, this was very awkward to him, but he had to face it – his father wasn't a bad guy. It was silly to blame his misfortunes on Laguna. Rinoa was right – he dwelled on the past way too much. Perhaps it was time to forget about the past and move on to the future. The past would only get in his way of having a happy life…

Squall changed into some clean clothes and plodded back down the stairs and into the kitchen, where he found Laguna sitting at the kitchen table with two mugs of coffee on either side. Squall sighed quietly and sat down, taking small sips of the warm drink. The coffee slithered down his throat and warmed him up almost immediately, but the silence between father and son was still as awkward as ever.

"I was at the hospital," murmured Squall, seeing as how Laguna didn't appear to start conversation any time soon.

Laguna looked mildly surprised. "Really? Why?"

"A friend of mine was in trouble," answered Squall flatly.

Laguna was probably thinking 'Squall has friends now?' but he was very good at hiding it. Instead, he nodded, an amused look of interest on his face. "Oh, I see. Are they all right?"

"She's fine now."

A smile flickered across Laguna's face. "_She_, eh?"

Squall rolled his eyes. "Grow up."

Laguna chuckled. "Just like your old man – saving damsels in distress. You're a natural killer with the ladies, Squall."

"Ha, ha," said Squall sarcastically.

"So, what's her name?" asked Laguna.

Squall hesitated. "…Rinoa."

"Rinoa, eh?" said Laguna, stroking his chin with interest. "You should invite her over one day."

"We're just friends," said Squall shortly, knowing exactly what his father was thinking. And heck, if he ever _did _invite Rinoa over, he knew that Laguna would do all he could to embarrass Squall…

"I know, I know," said Laguna, "Just a suggestion."

Squall smirked. "Whatever."

Amazingly, the two of them spoke for what seemed like a very long time. Squall couldn't believe things have changed so quickly, and it was all because of one person. He had a feeling that this was the start of a beautiful tomorrow…

* * *

**A/N:** Hmm, short chapter, I know :( I just wanted to get this one over and done with as soon as I could so I can move onto the next chap, which is pretty interesting to me :P Anyway, hope you all have a good new year(even though it was yesterday xD) and I'll try to update soon. Sayanora:-)


	8. Broken Smile

**Flying With Broken Wings**

**Chapter 8 – Broken Smile**

Rinoa woke up to a chirrupy morning. The sunlight poured through her window, illuminating her bedroom with a bright aura. This would have been a wonderful day if it hadn't been for the fact that it was the first day of school. She was dreading this day as soon as school ended the previous year, knowing what was waiting for her.

_It's my final year of high school, perhaps things will be different_, thought Rinoa.

She tried to remain optimistic, but somehow her mind managed to wonder back to the thought of Squall. She was worried about him. She hadn't seen him ever since she got out of the hospital a week ago. She was beginning to think that he was going against what he said – that he didn't want to be around her anymore. Was all he said just a lie? Was his promise of protecting her merely an _empty _promise?

_I hope not_, she thought. _Maybe … he didn't have time to see me._

It didn't sound right, but Rinoa couldn't come up with any other excuse. She wanted to convince herself that Squall still _did _care about her, but if he did, then why would he avoid her? It didn't make sense.

Rinoa changed into her school uniform – a white, short-sleeved button-up blouse with a pleated navy blue skirt that came a little over halfway up her knees. Her knee-high white socks were pulled up and on her feet were leather black shoes with thick heels to make her look just a little bit taller. She put her royal-blue blazer on with the school crest to add a touch of class. She felt like a complete dork in the school uniform, but there was nothing she could do about it.

She left her room and went into the kitchen, only to find it empty. Caraway was off at work, and Rinoa didn't mind that much. She made herself breakfast – slightly burnt toast and a glass of full cream milk. She sat and ate in silence, and when she was done, she washed up. She packed her school bag and was off.

_At least I'll see Squall at school, _she thought. _I'm sure there's a good reason as to why I haven't been seeing him…_

As soon as Rinoa reached the gates of Timber High, she could feel the familiar atmosphere of school again. People were walking in, most of them not noticing her, and those who did stayed clear of her. She entered the school grounds, walking with her head down so as to make sure that nobody would take notice of her. She ignored the teenagers around her talking about their holiday, gossipping about something that happened during the vacation, picking random fights with each other, or simply flirting with each other.

"Hey, look, there's a new guy!" someone said as Rinoa entered the year twelve quad.

Rinoa looked up to see what all the commotion was about, however, she had a vague idea already. She watched as a large circle of students formed around one arriving person … Squall. He had his eyes averted from the hubbub around him, that same neutral expression on his face as always. It didn't appear that he was trying to fight the crowd gathering around him; instead, he was taking it as he went…

"Hey new guy, you got a name?"

"Where're you from?"

"Why were you crazy enough to choose a dump like Timber High?"

Squall was very used to this, seeing as how he transferred schools very often. He sighed outwardly, not wanting to answer so many questions in one go. Actually, he didn't want to answer any questions at all. He just wanted to get away from all these people and kill some time on his own…

"Squall!"

He looked up, hearing the familiar voice. He knew straight away who it was, because there was only one person who knew his name in this town.

Rinoa squeezed through the circle of students, and when she saw Squall, a grin spread across her face. Squall looked extremely flustered, and even more so when Rinoa dived for him, throwing an enormous bear hug at him.

"Get off me," said Squall, frustrated, through gritted teeth. He had the same look on his face that a seven-year-old boy would have had if his mother had just hugged him in public.

"Huh? You know this guy, Rinoa?" asked a girl in the grade.

Rinoa let go of Squall, a real look of glee in her face. "Yes, I do. Let the guy breathe, people!"

Suddenly, it was as if Squall wasn't even as remotely interesting as he was before, so people began to back away, murmuring things like 'Oh, he's a friend of _hers_' and 'She has friends now?' Everything seemed to return back to its usual state of being, the same post-holiday fever in the air, and it was as if Squall was just another insignificant feature of the school again.

"Thanks," murmured Squall, rubbing the back of his neck where Rinoa had grasped onto so tightly.

The dark-haired girl turned back to her companion with a cheerful smile. "No worries. I know how much you hate attention, and I figured the only way to get people not to care anymore is by associating yourself with me."

Squall frowned, and couldn't understand why Rinoa was saying something like that in such a joyful tone. "You shouldn't say that."

Rinoa shrugged. "I'm used to it. It's the way of life now. Why fight it? Anyway, why haven't I seen you since I got out of the hospital?"

Squall ran his fingers through his chestnut-brown hair uneasily. "Well … I was spending time with my moronic father, believe it or not."

Rinoa looked at him curiously. "Oh! That's great … I think?"

Squall smirked. "Yeah, I don't know if it's good or bad either. But he's not such a moron after you talk to him for a while…" He shrugged his shoulders,

Rinoa smiled. "I should try it sometime."

Squall tried his hardest to return the smile, but it was as if his cheekbones weren't used to such movement, so his expression remained neutral. He couldn't help but notice how different Rinoa looked in her school uniform. Endearing, in a way, like a typical schoolgirl with a big smile on her face. Squall tried to snap himself out of it, and instead dug his hands in his pockets.

"You don't look so badass in this uniform," said Rinoa cheekily, as if knowing what Squall was thinking.

"It pains me to hear you say that," said Squall sardonically.

Rinoa poked his chest with her index finger and laughed. "The way you wear it is … how do you say it … _cute._"

"…Whatever."

Rinoa laughed again. It was true – Squall looked adorable to a certain degree. She found it even funnier that he wore his uniform to comply as much as possible with 'badass-ism'. He wore his grey trousers in a baggy fashion and his white shirt was untucked and had its sleeves rolled up, the collar bent, and the top two buttons undone. The tie was scrappily trussed around his neck, and his hair was tousled and abnormally messy, as usual. He wore a black backpack of which the straps were lowered, so the bag was hanging way below his waistline. His enormous Griever pendant still hung around his neck, unscathed, and his silver earring didn't fail to glimmer.

"None of my old schools had dress codes," murmured Squall.

"Oh well, it won't kill you," said Rinoa. "Besides, it's just a year. You'll be fine."

At that moment, the first bell rang for homeroom. Everyone slowly began to make their way to class. Squall and Rinoa stayed where they were, the former looking slightly confused and the latter knowing exactly what was on his mind.

"Yes Squall, I'll help you look for your class," said Rinoa with a smile, as if reading Squall's mind.

Squall ran his fingers through his hair again, glad that he didn't need to _ask _for help. Running his fingers through his hair was like some strange motion he felt necessary to do when he didn't know what to say … and that was very often now. He somehow felt that saying 'Whatever' like he usually did was beginning to lose meaning all together…

"So, do you know what homeroom you're in?" asked Rinoa.

"Uh … well, no," mumbled Squall, shrugging.

Rinoa frowned. "That's not going to help. Maybe we should go to the office and ask…"

"No, no, I don't think there's any need for that," said Squall hastily. He hated having to ask for help, especially from people he didn't know. "Here, I got this letter a while ago." He reached into his bag and pulled out a white envelope, which was in crisp condition.

Rinoa took the letter from him, opened the envelope and began to scan through the paper. "Squall, did you even _read_ this letter? Everything you need to know is here!" She read through it some more. "Homeroom 12-C … hey, that's my homeroom!"

"Oh _joy_," said Squall sarcastically, rolling his eyes.

Rinoa ignored him. "Hmm … advanced science, English _and _math? Gee Squall, not bad … I guess we're in competition now, eh?"

Squall shrugged. "I didn't ask to be smart."

Rinoa laughed and handed the envelope back to Squall. She then led Squall to their homeroom class, giving him a vague tour of the school as they went. She wasn't exactly enthusiastic about it, and neither was Squall. It appeared that neither of them was looking forward to the school year at all.

As Squall and Rinoa entered their designated classroom, the first thing Rinoa noticed at the back of the room was a sassy redhead, wearing the school blouse with four buttons undone, exposing her cleavage, and the pleated skirt at some extreme shortness. She was wearing her designer sunglasses that she lifted up, revealing her electric blue eyes that pierced the room. Behind her stood her group of cronies, looking like the unimportant extras in a movie.

_Oh great, it's Ashleigh Ferris, _thought Rinoa bitterly.

"Oh, _Rinoa, _how _wonderful_ to _see _you _here _again," said Ashleigh in a sickeningly sweet tone as soon as she saw Rinoa enter the room.

"Yeah, _wonderful_," said Rinoa sarcastically. She really hated the way Ashleigh always unnecessarily put emphasis on words that didn't need emphasising...

Ashleigh stood up and walked over to the pair, her hips shaking from side to side gracefully. Her two plastic friends followed her like dogs.

"Why, hello there, cutie," said Ashleigh, flickering a seductive-like smile at Squall.

"He's got a name," said Rinoa.

Ashleigh completely ignored Rinoa and stayed absorbed in Squall. "I see you made it to the hospital then." She smiled an oh-so-sweet smile.

Squall remained emotionless. "Yeah."

"Well, if you ever feel lonely, I'm always here," purred Ashleigh.

"Uh, right," said Squall, rolling his eyes.

"Hey, what am I, invisible?" exclaimed Rinoa.

"Rinoa, he's _finished_ saving you," said Ashleigh. "He can move on to bigger things now, no?" She grabbed her Squall's arm and was about to pull him over to her large group of friends.

"I prefer to stay here," said Squall firmly, pulling his arm away from Ashleigh.

"But … _why_?" asked Ashleigh, as if it were the most ridiculous thing in the world.

"Because I'm her friend," said Squall shortly, nodding towards Rinoa.

Rinoa, in turn, simply stared at Squall in awe. _Did he just say that?_ she wondered.

Ashleigh laughed pettily, flipping her amber hair over her shoulder delicately. "Her friend, huh? And, uh … _why _would you want to be friends with _that_?" She pointed a dainty finger straight at Rinoa.

Ashleigh's friends began to laugh dumbly. Squall took a step closer to Ashleigh, his stance almost threatening. The redheaded girl appeared unintimidated; in fact, she looked just as laidback as she was before. "Hey, if you have something against Rinoa then you have something against me too," said Squall flatly.

_What the hell is he doing? _Rinoa stared at both Squall and Ashleigh, who were standing so close to each other that it looked more like they were in love than in hate, if it hadn't been for the cocky expressions they both had smothered across their faces. _He's making enemies with one of the most powerful people in the grade. For me._

Ashleigh smiled a smile that said 'I'm not afraid of you'. "Well, it's obvious where _your _loyalties lie. But, I'm more than willing to welcome you if you ever change your mind." She paused."Erm … what was your name again?"

"I never told you," said Squall, taking a step back from Ashleigh, his confidence not faltering in the slightest way. "It's Leonhart. Squall Leonhart."

Ashleigh raised her eyebrows. "All right then." She began to turn around. "See you around … _Squall_," she sneered softly, and she walked to the back of the room to resume whatever it was she was doing before.

Rinoa stared, wide-eyed, as Ashleigh walked away with her friends tagging along behind. Then she looked at Squall, who was turning around and to face her. She grabbed him and dragged him to the other side of the classroom, keeping a stern look on her face as she did so.

"What?" said Squall, pulling away from Rinoa's grip.

"What do you mean '_what_'?" hissed Rinoa. "What the heck was that?"

"I … was standing up for you, I think," said Squall, raising an eyebrow.

Rinoa tried to keep a straight face after that comment, but she definitely felt her heart soar. "You don't want to make enemies with her, Squall."

"You make it sound like she's some dangerous, scary assassin," said Squall. "It's not as if she can do anything to me…"

"Well—"

"Look, I meant it when I said I'd protect you," murmured Squall, feeling that it was only right that he should say it again, but it was still somewhat awkward to express his feelings so openly. "Besides, why would I want to be friends with _that_?"

Rinoa stared at him, speechless. Then she burst out laughing. "Oh, I love you Squall…" She said it so plainly, with a touch of sarcasm, as if it were nothing.

Squall didn't want to show the raging amount of shock on his face, and simply raised an eyebrow in response to her comment. He was very sure that it was a joke. Rinoa rolled her eyes with a laugh and left her companion there to find a seat in the room, because the teacher finally decided to arrive.

_Such a strange girl… _

* * *

"…And that's Yuki and her group of friends over there," continued Rinoa, pointing to a group of girls sitting at a nearby table. "Yuki's usually in the library, but today is an exception, I guess." 

Squall nodded for the umpteenth time that lunchtime. Rinoa was showing him all the people in the grade, with some comment that was either snide or impartial. He didn't really care for any of these people and what they were like, because he knew he'd end up forgetting their name or something. It wasn't as if anybody _cared _that Squall was here. He was actually quite good at being unnoticed, despite the fact that he was a newcomer.

Rinoa drew her attention away from the girl with pigtails called Yuki and company. "And that's Zell over there with his group of idiots. They're always acting obnoxious in some way or other. Zell's okay because he leaves me alone, but his friends get really annoying sometimes."

At that moment, the bell rang, declaring that lunch was over. Rinoa sighed and looked at her timetable. "Damn … a double period of Phys Ed. Just great." She sulked and gathered her things.

"Oh, you mean like gym class," said Squall, as the two of them began walking to the next class.

"Yeah, whatever you want to call it," said Rinoa. "I just can't believe they made it mandatory…"

"I don't have any problems with that," said Squall, shrugging his shoulders.

"But that's because you're _Squall_," said Rinoa. "I _hate _it. You know, I can't even swim twenty-five metres without stopping."

Squall couldn't help but laugh. "You're joking, right?"

Rinoa frowned. _I love it when he laughs, but I hate it when he laughs _at _me_! "No, I'm not joking."

Squall was unable to suppress another laugh, but stopped when Rinoa gave him a dark look. "All right. Uh … I'm sure you'll do fine?"

"At least that's _mildly_ comforting," said Rinoa with a smile. "Anyway, here's our class. You should get changed. I'll meet you in the gym, okay?"

* * *

Rinoa sat on the wooden floorboards of the gym with her knees huddled up to her chest. She couldn't help but think she looked absolutely ridiculous in the sport uniform. She was wearing navy blue shorts with the white polo shirt draped over her body and tied her dark hair up in a high ponytail. The uniform made her feel anorexic – she looked very scrawny and small in it. But that was just to her. She probably felt that way because of her biased resentment against the subject altogether.

She looked around at the students entering the gym, dressed in their uniform. Soon enough, Squall came in, and Rinoa couldn't resist smiling. He was wearing navy tracksuit pants and the white polo shirt with the school emblem stuck on it. Somehow, the PE uniform made him look more muscular than he looked in the normal uniform. Unlike Rinoa, he actually looked good in the uniform. Maybe gym clothes looked better on people who actually _liked _gym.

He sat down nearby Rinoa without a word. He was too far away from her for her liking, so she slid closer to him. She was about to open her mouth to speak, but shut it again when the instructor came in. It was a new instructor, someone Rinoa had never seen before. But new or old teacher, _all _gym instructors scared the living daylight out of her.

The new gym instructor stood in front of the class, her icy blue eyes gazing intently on the students. The teacher looked not even a day older than eighteen years old, and Rinoa wondered if she was in fact a new student or a teacher. She had long blonde hair that was tied up, and she wore sporty black pants with a white stripe down the side and a white singlet top that showed her belly. She was incredibly slender, yet athletic and strong looking. She folded her arms in a stern stance, and the class quietened down for her.

"I'm Instructor Quistis Trepe," said the teacher coolly, her cold eyes scanning the room.

"_You're _our teacher?" exclaimed a student in the class.

"I'm a student-teacher," said Quistis firmly. "I will be taking this class for half the year. But just because I am a student-teacher does not mean I will tolerate any repugnant behaviour."

Everyone began chattering quietly, obviously thinking that the fact that someone just about their age was giving them orders was ludicrous. Squall felt quite the same way – this teacher was going to be such a pushover. But something about her eyes and the way she spoke gave him the slightest impression otherwise.

"Silence!" Quistis' voice echoed through the room thunderously.

The class fell silent almost at once.

Quistis' expression eased a little bit. "Now. I'm not going to waste any time. All of you, stand up and we'll start our warm-up session."

"Hey Trepie, you wanna come back to my place after school and give me a private _warm-up session?_" called one of the obnoxious guys in the class.

Quistis turned around sharply, and suddenly a loud _crack_ was heard. She had pulled out a whip and cracked it viciously against the floor, her face filled with the utmost threat. The guy who had made the vulgar comment wiped the smirk off his face at once. Everyone in the class flinched, wondering if she was going to whip any students who were out of line.

Quistis smiled a small, triumphant smile. "We'll be studying the art of self-defence this semester, which involves a number of weaponry skills."

The class seemed slightly relieved. Rinoa was still very terrified of Quistis. She tried to fall into the back of the class behind everyone else while the students did their warm ups so Quistis wouldn't be able to see her and pick on her, like many of the other PE teachers before.

"All right, sit down and wait while I get the equipment," said Quistis after twenty minutes of warm ups, as she went into the storage room.

"Hyne, she scares the heck outta me," Rinoa whispered to Squall as she sat down on the floor.

"She's all right," murmured Squall.

"You're only saying that because she's young and hot," hissed Rinoa, narrowing her eyes down at him.

"No," argued Squall, rolling his eyes. "I know she won't be a pushover."

Quistis came back with a couple of bags full of equipment. "All right. Now, I'm sure many of you, if not all of you, are beginners in this aspect, so I will be lenient."

"Instructor, this self defence stuff isn't in the curriculum," said a girl in the class, putting her hand up and speaking straight away.

"I'm the Instructor and I _choose_ what we do," said Quistis flatly.

Rinoa had the guts to put her hand up. "This won't be in our final exams, will it?"

"No, it won't," replied Quistis. "I'm teaching you this because you'll probably need it one day in the future. And that's what school is about, isn't it?" She picked up one of the caskets in the bag and opened it up. She pulled out the object inside it, which was a huge, shining gunblade. She held it up for the class. "This is a K15-Revolver Gunblade. Pretty basic. It's a school standard weapon. The lining is blunt so it won't hurt you. The bullets are perfectly harmless."

Rinoa could see in the corner of her eye that Squall looked slightly interested in the subject all of a sudden. She pouted, and never even knew that the school had a supply of gunblades. She wondered what else was in those mystery bags of Quistis'.

"Now, I'd like two volunteers," said Quistis.

Everyone in the class looked slightly discomforted. All the guys were pretty much itching to volunteer, but they were just a little bit anxious and unsure of what was going to happen. After all, nobody wanted to get clobbered by Quistis at this point.

"Anybody? No?" Quistis glowered at the class. "Come on, don't make me pick on someone."

Rinoa moved a little bit closer to Squall in apprehension. Squall rolled his eyes. He had a feeling Rinoa was going to volunteer him soon, but perhaps she forgot that he was first rank in gunblade skills. He didn't want to volunteer himself though because he didn't want any attention drawn to him.

As if mocking Squall's expectations, Quistis' gaze fell right on Squall. "You," she said, pointing at him. "You look good. Come up here."

There were sneers around the class about the subtext of Quistis' phrase 'you look good'.

Squall groaned. "I don't want to."

"Come on," said Quistis shortly.

Squall shook his head.

"Don't make me fail you," said Quistis.

"Go for it, Squall!" whispered Rinoa.

"Yeah, go for it!" everyone began cheering.

Squall sighed, knowing that there was no way out of this. "All right."

As Squall stood up to go to the front of the class, there was a great applause from the student body. He tried to ignore it and took the gunblade from the instructor's hands. It wasn't his Lionheart, but it would have to do.

Suddenly, the door burst open and Ashleigh came walking into the gym. She was all dolled up in the sport uniform, highlighting her lean figure. She still wore those trademark designer sunglasses as if they were surgically attached to her face no matter what. Surprisingly, she was alone, and it was then that Rinoa noticed that her plastic friends were already in class.

"Sorry I'm late," she said, with the least remorse in her voice. "I was held up."

"Do you have a pass?" asked Quistis.

Ashleigh lifted up her glasses, as if she didn't believe her eyes. She gave Quistis a smug look. "Um, _no…_"

"All right, no punishment, but next time, I won't be so lenient," said Quistis. "What's your name?"

"My name is Ashleigh … erm, _instructor_," answered the redhead.

"It's Instructor Trepe," said Quistis. "Now, Ashleigh, since you've walked in late, you've just volunteered yourself for the class demonstration." She lifted up another gunblade for Ashleigh to accept.

"Oh!" said Ashleigh in surprise, "A gunblade … how lovely." The redhead lowered her sunglasses again, walked up to Quistis and took the weapon from her. She glanced at Squall, but the expression she wore was unreadable because her glasses were hiding her eyes.

"Now, this is how you hold—"

Before Quistis could finish her instruction, both Squall and Ashleigh were in combat stance, gunblade in hands.

"My, you _do _catch on quickly, don't you?" said Quistis distantly. "Now, when I say 'go', Squall here will rush up to Ashleigh over there and deliver a feign swing. Now, that's a blow that makes your opponent think that you're about to hit but you really aren't…"

_Wait a second … I never told her my name, _thought Squall. _How does she know it?_ But he didn't want to linger on the thought, and made up the excuse that she probably had some records of him or something, because Quistis had finished explaining what a feign swing was.

"…All right, go!" shouted Quistis.

_This is amateur stuff_, thought Squall, as he rushed over towards Ashleigh and delivered the swing.

"Excellent, that was easy," said Quistis. "Now we'll be defensive. Squall will rush towards Ashleigh and strike to her left upper body, and she will hold her blade up like this to block his attack…" She demonstrated to the class with her own gunblade.

_Hyne, can this drag on any more? _

"…Go!"

Squall ran towards Ashleigh and did what he was told, in which Ashleigh blocked the attack with her sword.

"Let's heat things up a little, shall we?" whispered Ashleigh, a sly smirk appearing on her lips.

"What?" said Squall, but before he knew it, Ashleigh flung her gunblade to the right and made an attempt to attack Squall. Luckily, with his quick reflexes, Squall was able to block the blow.

"Wow, you're fast," purred Ashleigh.

"You're getting a little ahead of yourself here," said Quistis warningly.

"Hey, what're you—"

Ashleigh dodged to Squall's side and bent down, making an attack for his knees with her blade. Squall sensed her movement with his peripheral vision and jumped back gracefully, landing on both feet. Ashleigh stood up, the sly grin growing slyer.

"I don't want to hurt you—"

Ashleigh dragged the gunblade against the floor to build up some friction and sliced through the air in an upward motion, aiming straight for Squall's abdomen. Squall whirled his gunblade over his shoulder, once again successfully blocking Ashleigh's attempt to attack him from the side.

"I suggest you stop right now or you will get seriously injured," called Quistis.

Everyone in the class was up on their feet, trying to get a good glimpse of the action. Rinoa was one of them – she watched eagerly with a puzzled look on her face, looking straight at Squall's face that was extremely close to Ashleigh's….

Ashleigh staggered, trying to penetrate through Squall's defence but he was too strong. She looked up, sneering, her arms trembling while struggling to push Squall's gunblade back. "Why won't you fight back?" she asked quietly.

"I don't want to," mumbled Squall.

Ashleigh withdrew her blade from under Squall's. "Too chicken, huh?"

Somehow, she struck a nerve in Squall's body when she called him 'chicken'. He lifted his sword up in anticipation. An egotistic but charming smirk appeared on his mouth as he said, "Bring it on."

In an instant, the continuous sound of metal clashing against metal was ringing through the walls of the gym. The students of the class were watching the fight with keen excitement. Quistis, at this point, gave up trying to control the battle and stood back with her arms folded, also watching with interest. The two gunblade-artists were indeed extremely fast to keep up with, but it didn't stop the students from making a ruckus.

"Yeah, beat him to a pulp, _Ashleigh!_"

"C'mon, new guy!"

Squall ducked Ashleigh's horizontal blow and rolled to the side, where he struck her diagonally. The girl winced, but didn't bleed because the edge of the sword was blunt. Ashleigh whirled around and made a quick swing for Squall's shoulder, who managed to parry the attack by a split second. Squall and Ashleigh lunged for each other again, and began walloping their gunblades at one another at an immense speed. Their blows seemed somewhat predictable though, as both parties managed to block or evade each attack.

"Ashleigh," murmured Rinoa from the crowd. She felt so distant from Squall all of a sudden. She'd never felt so far away from him before. Even when she was in a coma, she didn't feel far away from him. But now that she saw him so passionate about something with someone else, she felt like someone standing on the sidelines.

Ashleigh aimed for the hilt of Squall's gunblade and struck it hard. The blade fell out of Squall's hands, and within a microsecond, Ashleigh thrust her foot into Squall's abdomen and kicked him with intense force. Squall fell on his back and looked around until he spotted his gunblade lying close by. However, as he looked up, he spotted Ashleigh jumping high into the air and coming down right at him with her gunblade ready to attack.

Squall quickly rolled over and grabbed his sword. He stood up and watched Ashleigh hit the ground, landing on both feet. Squall sniggered and got into attacking position again. Ashleigh turned around and hurtled towards her opponent, gunblade extended out in front of her. Squall stood there, ready for her, and waited for her to get close enough. Once she was within a metre from him, he leapt onto her extended blade and vaulted into the air.

Ashleigh, very confused, looked up into the air, and saw Squall heading down with his gunblade pointed right at her. Before she could think of anything to avoid being attacked, Squall shot a series of 'bullets' right at her. Ashleigh managed to parry all but one shot, which struck her right between the eyes, knocking off her sunglasses and shattering the glass as it hit the floor.

Squall landed on the floor again, while Ashleigh clutched at her prized face. She opened her eyes and glared at him, that laid-back smile still as radiant as ever. She darted right for him and thrust her gunblade right at Squall.

For a second, it looked like the sword had pierced straight through Squall's body with the tip of the blade protruding from Squall's back. Everyone gasped, wondering how a blunt sword could stab through someone's body. Then it was clear that the sword didn't really go through Squall. Ashleigh was aiming for his shoulder, but missed and went under Squall's armpit.

Squall took this opportunity while everyone was shocked and slithered away from Ashleigh quickly. He jabbed his gunblade at Ashleigh's shins, causing her to shriek in pain and fall to the floor on her knees. Squall pointed the end of his gunblade at Ashleigh's neck, declaring victory upon himself.

The students went crazy and began whooping and shouting and cheering and clapping. Ashleigh looked up at Squall, a weak smile on her face.

"You held back," she said.

"What rank are you?" asked Squall, ignoring her.

"Third rank," answered Ashleigh. "Why did you hold back…?"

"Pretty good for third rank," said Squall with a smirk.

"All right, all right," said Quistis, trying her best to hush the class. "That's enough. That was a fine display of swordsmanship. You two go to the nurse's office to make sure nothing's broken."

"I'm fine," murmured Squall.

"No, it's protocol, Squall," said Quistis. "Both of you go. _Now._"

Squall was about to object, but he suddenly felt a stubbing pain at his chest where Ashleigh had kicked him. _Hyne, she sure can kick for a girl. _"Uh … which way to the nurse?"

"I'll show you," said Ashleigh with an enticing smile.

Rinoa watched with resentment as Ashleigh grabbed Squall by the arm and went to the nurse's office. _Yeah, whatever … she'll probably try to push him into a closet and seduce him or something, _she thought bitterly.

"All right, back to the lesson," said Quistis, clapping her hands to try and get the chattering students to pay attention.

Rinoa turned back to the instructor, but couldn't help but hate Ashleigh for being such a gunblade-artist. Of _all _the things she could be good at, why did it have to be something Squall was good at too?

* * *

The final bell of the day rang to declare the end of school. Everyone was changed back into their proper uniform and retreated from the gym, willingly waiting to get away from school. 

Quistis leaned against the glass doors of the gym with her arms folded, watching the chatty students leave school. Suddenly, her cell phone rung in her bag.

"Quistis Trepe speaking," she said promptly.

"Hey, Ice Queen," said a sly male voice on the other line.

"Yeah, what is it?" asked Quistis.

"How was your first day of work?"

"Exhausting," said Quistis with a sigh.

"Did you get those records of Loire's son?"

"Yeah, easy," answered Quistis.

"And your observations on him went well?"

"Indeed," replied Quistis.

A wry smile appeared on the face of the man on the other end. "Excellent. Report your findings to me at 1800 hours."

"Roger that," said Quistis.

* * *

Squall was released from the nurse's office, after being checked over about a hundred times already. During that time, Ashleigh made many feeble attempts to start conversation with Squall, but he would end up brushing her away. He was honestly not in the mood to put up with that annoying voice of hers. However, he still held a certain amount of respect for her because of her sword skills… 

"Bye, Squall!" called Ashleigh, waving to him as she left one way to get home.

Squall said nothing and simply waved back, as he turned the other way to get back to his place. As he walked out the school gates, he saw Rinoa ahead of him somewhere and wondered if he should've approached her or not. He didn't want to look desperate, but then again he wanted to show that he hadn't forgotten about her…

He found himself running after Rinoa. As soon as he was close enough to her, he slowed down a little bit and stuck his hands in his pockets casually to make it look like he wasn't running after her.

"Hey," he murmured.

Rinoa turned around, but instead of that happy face she usually gave him when she saw him, she had a look that said something very obvious: 'I'm fricking pissed.'

"Oh, _hello _Squall," she said in a somewhat mocking tone. "Did you have fun at the nurse's office … if that _is _where you went?"

Squall raised an eyebrow. "Uh … what are you talking about? I did go to the nurse…"

"Yes, of course," said Rinoa, nodding in a strangely serious way. "Well, I'm sure you and Ashleigh had one _hell _of a time licking each other's wounds…"

Squall simply stared at her. "Are you okay?"

"Yup, just _dandy_!" cried Rinoa sarcastically.

"What's gotten into you?" said Squall.

"What do you mean '_what's gotten into me_'?" exclaimed Rinoa. "More like, what's gotten into you? What the hell was that?"

"…What the hell was what?"

"That _display _in gym," answered Rinoa angrily.

"Well, I was just exercising my skills," mumbled Squall.

"Yeah, but you didn't have to be such a show-off about it," glowered Rinoa, folding her arms.

"_Show-off_?" repeated Squall. "I told you before, I'm first rank in gunblade expertise."

"Yeah … well, you didn't have to get all touchy with Ashleigh," said Rinoa stubbornly.

"_Touchy_?" said Squall in disbelief. "It was a _fight_, Rinoa. Not a make-out session."

Rinoa pouted. "Whatever." She turned around and began walking away from Squall.

"_Why_ are you so angry?" Squall shouted after her. When he got no reply, he turned around with a groan and began walking home. _I thought I was doing her a favour. I did it twice today and all she did was throw it back in my face. Why do I even _bother

Rinoa kept on walking with her arms folded. She didn't know exactly _why _she was so angry. Squall was just being himself, and Ashleigh just happened to be there when he was doing so. But _why_ did she have to be there? Why did she have to be there at all? Was she jealous that Squall was associating with her in a positive way? Was she jealous that Ashleigh had something Squall liked that she didn't?

_Jealous? Why should I be jealous? It's not as if Squall's my boyfriend or anything. I'm just … scared that I'll lose him as a friend to her. But why should I be scared? Squall is allowed to be friends with whomever he wants, right? Why should I get angry at him for being friends with someone else as well…?_

As much as she tried reasoning with herself, she couldn't get rid of that awful feeling stuck in the pit of her stomach. But in the end, she felt guilty for her actions ... but she honestly did not want to feel guilty.

* * *

**A/N:** I hope the little battle scene wasn't too draggy ... it's definitely something different, but I must say I did enjoy writing it.Somehow sticking Squall and Rinoa in uniforms is a really strange image tome, but I just thought it would befun to do it :D Anyway, thank you for your reviews ... don't worry, this whole fic won't be revolving around the school life (I'm actually finding it quite difficult to think of scenarios in the school o.o;) and will be advancingout of school in a couple of chapters' time. Ah, sorry, I'm just rambling on now xD Thank you for your support :) 


	9. Broken Heart

**A/N:** Hello again, I'm very sorry for the long wait. This is because of anumber of reasons ... but I won't go into them. Anyway, thank you for your helpful, wonderful, inspiring reviews :) I will try to update quicker in the future.Now, in case you forgot what happened last chapter (which I'm sure you have), Rinoa got angry at Squall forthefight with Ashleigh. I hope I haven't lost you guys yet.

**Flying with Broken Wings**

**Chapter 9 – Broken Heart**

Squall continued on home, trying to keep his mind clear of Rinoa's outburst. Somehow, the task was much more difficult than Squall would expect. The tone in her voice and that sour look she was wearing clung to his thoughts, and he really couldn't help but wonder why she was so feisty all of a sudden. He knew he was over-analysing, but even after trying to look at it from so many points of view, he still couldn't find an answer. And just not being able to think about anything else was frustrating enough.

_Wait, why should I care that she's angry? _a voice in his head suddenly realised. _I didn't do anything wrong. _

Even having thought that, the ponderingssomehow managed to creep back into his head and bother him. A sudden feeling of unease wondered into his system – worrying about what a girl thought of him was certainly unlike him, and he was sure that he didn't want that feeling to stay. Perhaps this was all a part of the 'friendship' deal. He was slightly beginning to regret ever having made any promises of friendship and protection in the first place. It certainly was 'cramping his style', and he somehow preferred 'his style' over this strange feeling of distress over what _one _person saw in him.

Squall turned a corner and walked into his driveway. He took his house keys out and was about to open the front door, until he realised that it was already unlocked. Strange as it was, he made nothing of it and entered his dazzling house without thinkingtoo much. As he walked in, he threw his backpack by the stairway and made his way into the kitchen in search of something to eat. As he entered his designated room, he was surprised to see Laguna standing in there with his hands behind his back, gazing out the window absentmindedly. The older man did not seem to sense Squall's presence yet.

"Uh … aren't you supposed to be at work?" asked Squall.

When Laguna turned around, Squall expected to see that cheerful face that always seemed to be there no matter what, and was somewhat startled to see that that gleeful and boyish expression was nowhere to be found. Instead, Laguna was wearing a thin grimace, and as thin as it was, it definitely did not suit him.

"Ah," said Laguna, in what sounded like a rather downbeat voice. "You're home."

"That's right," murmured Squall, rolling his eyes, but was still wary of the dull atmosphere of the room.

"Sit down, Squall," said Laguna gently.

_What's going on? _thought Squall, and took a seat at the dining table.

Laguna pulled out a chair beside Squall and sat down. He was silent for a couple of moments, and Squall wondered if the conversation was going to get anywhere. He stared at his hands in the couple of moments that Laguna chose to remain silent, his patience running thin.

"Is there a reason as to why you're here?" asked Squall finally.

Laguna sighed. "There's something I need to tell you."

"Well, tell me then," said Squall.

"You see, Squall…" Laguna began, but his sentence ended up drifting away.

"Just be straightforward, I don't need you to linger on how I'd feel about this news," said Squall flatly.

"It's not as simple as that," said Laguna uneasily.

"Spit it out," said Squall impatiently, slightly raising his voice.

"All right, all right," said Laguna, putting his hands up in surrender. "I'll be straightforward with you, Squall. I won't sugarcoat it and I'll tell you everything. I'll—"

"Come _on_," interjected Squall edgily.

Laguna sighed. "Squall … something happened back in Winhill."

Squall nodded slowly, wondering what this could have meant.

"It was Ellone," continued Laguna. "She was in a motorcycle accident."

Squall's heart began to take a rapid change of pace. He started to wish that Laguna wasn't so straightforward with this anymore.

"But … she's all right, isn't she?" asked Squall slowly, almost afraid of the answer.

Laguna avoided Squall's eyes, the unnatural look on his face become even more unnatural as his eyes were clouded with sorrow.

"I'm sorry, Squall. She didn't make it."

* * *

Quistis sat at her desk, rubbing her temples stressfully. It was four o'clock in the morning and she had files and records and other loose items sprawled across her desk in order to finish her task. She yawned and stretched, grabbing another file from her desktop. As she flipped through the pages of the manila folder, she couldn't help but let another yawn escape from her mouth. As she went through Squall Leonhart's student file, she groaned when she did not find what she was looking for. She put the folder aside and grabbed for another student file on the desk, not really paying attention to what she was picking up. As she opened it, she was about to put it back because it wasn't what she was intending to grab. But she stopped herself when the surname of the student caught her eye.

_Name: Rinoa Caraway-Heartilly _

"Heartilly," said Quistis softly. The name sounded familiar, and then it struck her. "Daughter of Galbadian singer Julia Heartilly…?" The beaming ID photo of Rinoa on the file definitely had a striking resemblance to Julia…

_Father: Fury Caraway, subordinate of national military forces  
Mother: Deceased _

"Subordinate of national military, huh?" mumbled Quistis, as she took another sip of her coffee to try and keep herself awake. She continued flipping through the file with interest. By the end of the record, she decided that she would keep a close eye on Rinoa as she did with Squall. "You'd better be grateful…"

Quistis' cell phone began to ring. Frustrated, she leaned over and picked it up, rubbing her eyes wearily. She hated getting early morning calls, even if she was awake.

"Trepe speaking," said Quistis, trying to hide the tiredness in her voice.

"Ice Queen," said the voice on the other end, and Quistis knew who it was straight away. She was about to give him a lecture about calling so early in the morning, but was silenced when she heard him continue on in a somewhat urgent tone. "I've got breaking news."

"What is it?" asked Quistis with a yawn.

"Informant Ellone Loire has been assassinated."

Quistis' pulse suddenly began to speed up, and she suddenly wasn't as lethargic as she was before anymore. It was as if somebody poured ice down the back of her shirt, because she certainly felt a freezing sensation running down her spine. Her hand gripped at the phone so tightly that it was surely to break at any moment if she kept it up. "Those bastards," she spat.

"Indeed."

"And what of the president?" inquired Quistis.

"Someone told him that she was killed in a motorcycle accident. That guy is so clueless that it makes me sick. But I'm sure he's beginning to catch on, at least."

Quistis sighed and slumped lower in her chair. "I don't get it. Why don't we just make an alliance with him? Essentially, we're on the same side."

"You're getting too ahead of yourself there, Quistis. Anyway, how goes your leads on Leonhart?"

Quistis sighed again, this time in aggravation. "This is pointless. We really aren't going to benefit from investigating the president's son."

"Sure we are. He'll make an important asset to the syndicate in the future. You're pretty oblivious to all this, aren't you?"

Quistis laughed it off weakly. "Oblivious? No, I'm just wondering when it'll all end."

"Oh, you're in for one hell of a ride then. It hasn't even begun yet."

* * *

Rinoa sat on the edge of her seat, tapping her fingers on the desk in front of her impatiently. Another day of school, another day of monotony. She sat in silence as the teacher continued to ramble on, paying no attention to the lecture and instead wondering where on earth Squall was. It had been days since school started, but Rinoa hadn't seen him on even one occasion since her outburst whilst speaking with him the other day. She was anxious to see him, wanting no more than to apologise for her vulgarity because she was left with a monstrous feeling of guilt on her conscience. 

The bell rang for the end of school and Rinoa was out of the classroom in a millisecond. She whirled through the flurry of students and just wanted to get home. She wished she knew how to contact Squall and ask whether he was all right or not. She was beginning to worry that he wanted to move schools again just because she was acting so horrible to him about what happened the other day with him and Ashleigh, but the idea itself was absurd – of course Squall wouldn't move away just because of her.

"Rinoa?"

As she was about to leave, Rinoa looked up at the voice that called her name and found Quistis at her flashy car, packing some things in the trunk. Rinoa felt uneasy almost instantly and walked up to the instructor, wondering what the blonde wanted from her.

"Yes, Instructor?" asked Rinoa politely. She hoped that she hadn't done anything wrong.

"Are you on your way home?" asked Quistis.

Rinoa nodded in response.

"All right then," said the instructor, looking like she wasn't particularly interested in the first place. "You're friends with Squall Leonhart, aren't you?"

"Yes," said Rinoa slowly.

"I see," said Quistis. "Do you know why he hasn't been attending school as of late?"

"I honestly don't know, Instructor," replied Rinoa.

Quistis took her reply into accord with a nod. "You should go into town and see if you can find him."

"What makes you say that?" inquired Rinoa.

"I just had a hunch that he would be there," said Quistis. "I do hope he's all right, that's all."

"Oh, okay," said Rinoa, but she had a feeling that Squall couldn't have been in town because she knew he hated being seen. "I don't know, he usually doesn't hang around town. He likes going to Obel Lake, though. I'll try looking for him if he doesn't show up to school tomorrow."

Quistis nodded with a mysterious smile. "Very well. Have a good evening, Rinoa."

Rinoa couldn't help but smile back. "You too, Instructor."

Quistis watched as Rinoa turned to leave. As soon as she saw that the student was out of sight, the instructor dove into her purse and pulled out her cell phone. She dialled her comrade's number hurriedly.

"Yo," said the deep voice on the other end.

"Go to Obel Lake," prompted Quistis. "He might be there."

"Got it."

* * *

'_I know we'll both have hard lives, Squall.'_

'_It won't be hard if we have each other, sis.'_

'_Yeah. But if we ever do lose each other, promise me you'll find a replacement to make your life less hard.'_

_'We won't lose each other.'_

_'...Please Squall, I don't want you to suffer.'_

The memory faded away into nothingness, as Squall forced it out of his mind. He was only a child back then. He didn't understand what she was talking about. He thought he had 'lost her' when he moved away from Winhill, but he didn't want to admit that Ellone was right. Now that she was gone forever, he _had to_ admit that she was right. But what did this mean? Could she _really _tell the future?

_Of course not, that's ridiculous_, thought Squall. He threw a pebble into the lake before him and watched it skip across the water, until it finally sunk. He felt like that pebble. It was only a few steps into his life, and already he fell beneath the surface he was walking on. He felt so weak, so useless – all he could do was sit and think back painfully to the only happy memories he had left in his redundant life. He never knew that such jovial times could bring back so much pain – because now he knew there was definitely no turning back to the days where he could smile and laugh.

_Find a replacement,_ she said. How could he ever replace Ellone? It was impossible. He wouldn't dream of it. There was nobody on the planet that knew Squall the way Ellone did. Nobody knew really what was behind his piercing eyes of blue. Nobody could possibly understand the road that he had walked until now.

But … perhaps it was time to walk a new road. Ellone's death shouldn't be the end of his road. He had so much to live for … but when would he realise what it was? He didn't know what he wanted out of life. He had no real dreams. He didn't want to dream, because he was sure that dreams never came true. Every time he dared to dream, it would only result in failure…

A warm breeze blew across Squall's shoulder, giving him the smallest amount of comfort. He sat with his arms folded in a protective stance, just staring off into the afternoon blue sky with a touch of pink on the horizon, giving way for a sunset that was yet to come. The blue lake shimmered under the slowly setting sun, the colour giving Squall a twinge of calm sadness. The lake reminded him so much of his childhood, a time that was so far away that it was like it never happened…

Squall's stomach let out an audible grumble, and that feeling of hunger came back to plague him. He hadn't eaten for almost two days, as he had left home again in search for some isolation and some time to wallow in his own self-pity before getting on his feet again, and living that story of a life he owned as if nothing ever happened. This also meant he stopped attending school for a while. The reason itself for not attending school was dumb and cowardly, but he had no will to see other human beings in his life yet. He just wanted to be alone, where no one could see him looking so pathetic…

He stood up and stretched, deciding that it was time to get some food before he starved. With one last glance at the serene lake, he turned on his heel and walked into the direction of town to get something to eat. Even if it meant seeing some people for a while, it didn't necessarily mean that he had to appreciate their presence. Besides, he couldn't just sit here and starve himself to death.

As Squall was growing closer to Timber, he could have sworn that he saw a figure in the distance. However, it was moving too quickly for him to catch a proper glimpse, so he assumed it to be an animal or something. He kept on moving, but he saw the figure dash into the shadows of a nearby tree. He couldn't help but feel an inkling of curiosity get to his head, and moved onwards, slightly more aware of the mysterious form.

His eyes fixed on the tree of which the figure hid into the shadows of. However, as he got closer, he found that there was nothing there. Feeling at ease, he kept on moving, getting closer to town and feeding his hungry stomach.

Letting his guard down was a mistake. Squall suddenly heard a crackling of leaves on the ground behind him and was about to turn around and defend, but he was too late. A muscular arm wrapped around his neck from behind and held him fiercely still. He mentally wished that he had his gunblade with him at this moment, and tried to devise a plan in his head to break free from his attacker.

"Don't resist, Leonhart," murmured a low, male voice.

That voice! It struck Squall like a paralysing lightning bolt. It was eerily familiar … but who was it?

Without giving Squall a chance to rack his brains for a name or fight back, the attacker injected the contents of a syringe into the skin of Squall's bare neck. Squall swore aloud at the sudden pain and lapsed onto the ground as soon as his attacker let him go and fled the scene. Squall was on his hands and knees; his body feeling like it was going into meltdown mode. He could feel the blood throbbing within his veins, pumping violently in his body. His vision became indistinct with a stinging blur caught in his eyes.

He clenched his fists with a loud groan and tried to stand up, but balance seemed to be a problem. Using his specially trained muscles, he forced his leg to take a step forward, and was close to collapsing onto the ground again if it hadn't been for the fact that he used all his might to remain coordinated. He took another step with great difficulty. He tried to walk on, but his steps were extremely non-linear, and it looked a lot like he was drunk and having trouble walking.

His head suddenly seared with an excruciating pain. It felt like his brain was swelling inside of his skull, threatening to break at any second. Squall tried to fight the feeling of just collapsing in pain and tried to carry on into Timber to find some help.

Squall let out a loud grunt, grasping his head as if it would stop the pain from driving him insane. Closer and closer he got, but as he got closer, his mind just felt like exploding. In attempt to withstand screaming, he squeezed his eyes shut and blindly made his way up towards town. His eyes were closed so hard that tears of pain leaked from the corners of his closed eyes…

_Hyne … what the hell is happening?_

_

* * *

_Rinoa turned a corner and was close to reaching her house, which sat close to the outskirts of town. She crossed the road and saw the little house within view and made her way toward her home. She contemplated whether or not to turn left and head to Obel Lake, just to see if Squall was there. She knew she said that she would look for Squall the next day if he didn't come to school, but after her talk with Quistis, she felt curious and concerned at the same time about Squall. 

_It wouldn't hurt just to check, _she thought finally.

She lived on the fringe of Timber, so it wasn't a long way to get to Obel. She turned left and headed for out of town, thinking about how Squall would react if they met up. As she reached the edge of town, she saw a lanky figure in the distance, slurring in steps. At first, she thought it was a drunk person and thought about turning back to avoid them. But as the lanky person came closer, she spotted straight away that it was Squall.

Eyebrows raised in surprise, she abandoned the thought of turning back and ran towards the strange-behaving Squall with concern. As she got closer, she found that he did not recognise her presence and she found this quite odd.

"Squall!" she called out, and ran straight towards him. As she was within reach, she gasped when she realised the state he was in. His eyes were tightly squeezed shut, tears staining the corners of his eyes. He was in a sweat, panting as if he had just run a marathon when in reality he was only walking at a miserably slow pace.

"R-Rin…?" It appeared that he had trouble stringing words together.

"What's wrong?" gasped Rinoa.

Squall opened his eyes, and Rinoa saw that his eyes were a pale blue, as if he was in a dream-like state. Yet, he was walking and talking as if he were awake. Was he somehow stuck in between?

Rinoa kept her cool, trying not to panic or show any signs of fear. "Come on, let's get you into town." She took Squall's arm and wrapped it around her shoulder. With one hand, she held onto the arm that was around her shoulder, and with the other, she supported Squall's body by holding him around the waist. Supporting his weight was hard at first, seeing as how she was smaller and weaker than he was, but she managed eventually. They walked on together, Rinoa leading calmly.

"Don't worry, it's going to be fine," said Rinoa gently. _This would be so much easier if somebody else was here to help me… _"Do you know what happened?"

At first, Squall very much wanted to reject Rinoa's help and get back to town on his own, but this was certainly not a time to be worrying about his pride. He accepted the fact that Rinoa was helping him, and was somewhat glad that she was the one who had found him…

"I … Lake … some guy … drugged…" The very act of speaking took up so much strength that could have been used to walk, so Squall stopped speaking. His head was agonising him now more than ever, and he let a groan of pain escape his lips.

"Okay, never mind," said Rinoa. She was now afraid for Squall, but didn't show it. She looked away from Squall's hanging head and looked up, seeing that they were in town again. Taking him to the hospital would take too long at this rate…

"We're in town now," said Rinoa quietly. "It'll take forever to get to the hospital…" She pursed her lips together nervously. "I'll take you to my house, okay? It's just over there…"

Squall gave no response and let Rinoa take him to wherever she wanted. He was too busy fighting the urge to just fall down and die to care where the hell he was going.

Rinoa led Squall to her small house. She tried to move quickly, but Squall couldn't keep up. So they went at a slow pace, until they finally reached Rinoa's house. She released Squall's waist and fumbled into her pocket for the house keys. With one hand, she unlocked the door and threw the keys on the table from the door carelessly. She supported Squall again and they made their way to Rinoa's bedroom, where she would let him rest.

She tried to ignore Squall's occasional gasps of agony. She had to put up with it the whole trip, and she honestly hated hearing him like this. His pain made her feel like bursting into tears … she didn't want to see him in such a terrifying state. She could almost feel the torture he was in … it must have been horrible. She knew that if she were ever in a state like this, she would have just given up and let herself fall. But Squall … he was such a fighter. She admired his strength to go through this…

"Almost there, Squall," said Rinoa soothingly.

She pushed her bedroom door open and it only took them a couple of paces to reach Rinoa's queen-sized bed. Squall collapsed onto it immediately, welcoming the sign that he could relax for just a second. Rinoa straightened up, her shoulders and legs aching. She watched as Squall shifted in the bed, his eyes closed tightly again, his breathing loud. A feeling of worry overcame her. He was still in pain … what was going on?

"Sleep a while," said Rinoa. "Just let yourself go…"

Rinoa's voice was muffled in Squall's ears, but he could just make out what she had said. _Let go_. The person who drugged him told him not to resist. Perhaps it would help if he didn't. After all, he was trying to fight the urge to collapse for what felt like a decade, when really it was only half an hour or a little more. For that whole time, it felt like his brain was screaming at him to just fall … but his body was telling him to keep going…

Squall opened his eyes, just to see if he could absorb his surroundings, but he failed. Everything was simply a blur to him. Though, he could just see the outline of Rinoa's body, watching over him like a guardian angel watching over the person she was supposed to protect. But even if her face was a blur, he could still faintly see the serene smile she gave him, which gave him a feeling of reassurance…

And then he let go … he stopped resisting, and it was like all the pain was melting away the way the world was.

* * *

Rinoa sighed in relief when Squall's eyes drooped shut. As soon as he was out, it was like everything he was fighting was gone. His breathing was back to normal, and the colour was returning to his face. However, he did seem quite flustered and it looked like he was sweltering with heat… 

She sat on the edge of her bed and stared at Squall's still face, which held placid sleeping eyes and the familiar neutral expression he always had. She smiled sadly to herself, sensing the different things within Squall. It wasn't just physical pain … it was something else too. As neutral as his face might have seemed, she just had a feeling that there was something behind it all. And she was genuinely worried for him. She wondered what he was going through at this moment…

Rinoa stroked Squall's cheek gently, feeling that his skin was really warm. Feeling this warmth, she wanted nothing more than to have somebody so tender to hold her … even if it was just for a while. She was much too used to the cold that was biting at her for so many years, with the death of her mother and the coming of her illness … all she wanted was a warm embrace filled with the love and care she had been missing for so long.

She tried to picture Squall's arms around her in the depth of her mind. The image brought a sweet smile to her face. Just the thought of it made her feel happy … but she wondered if it would ever happen in reality. Probably not … not soon, anyway…

Rinoa sighed and stood up, stretching. She was so caught up in thinking about herself that she forgot that Squall could be in real danger. She went to the phone and dialled Doctor Odine's number. She knew that he was _her_ specialist, but he was also a friend of hers in a sense. She feared that no other doctor would come on such short notice, and was sure that Odine would come if she asked him to.

"Doctor Odine," said Rinoa, "It's Rinoa."

"Rinoa? Are you all right?"

"Yes, I'm fine," answered Rinoa. "Doctor, it's my friend. The one who saved me before. There's something wrong with him, and I wanted to ask for your help..."

"I understand," said Odine. "What is ze matter?"

"He says he was drugged, I think," said Rinoa. "When I found him, he couldn't walk properly. He couldn't speak properly either. I think his head was hurting. And his eyes … they were different, as if he were asleep and dreaming."

"Dreaming?" repeated Odine. "Ah … I think I know. He has been injected with an antiseptic-like drug zat will induce a dream-like state upon him. I believe he was fighting ze drug, which is actually quite hard. He is sleeping now?"

"Yes, he's asleep now."

"Ah, well there is nothing to worry about. He will see things in his sleep zat was programmed into ze drug."

"Programmed!" exclaimed Rinoa. "What kind of a drug is this?"

"It is complicated," replied Odine. "But when he awakens, he will be fine. There is nothing to worry about."

Rinoa was convinced that Squall was going to be fine, but she still couldn't ward off that nervous feeling in the pit of her stomach. "Thank you, doctor." She hung up on him and looked over her shoulder to find Squall sleeping soundly. She tried to be optimistic, but no matter how hard she tried, still worried for him.

_Oh Squall, I hope you're all right. I wonder what kinds of things you're seeing in your dream now…_

She walked over to her bed and sat on the edge again, watching Squall's sleeping face intently. Now it was her turn to watch over him. It was her turn to do the saving, to do the waiting. And just like Squall had done for her when she was in a coma … she wasn't ever going to leave his side.


End file.
